Scientists map 34 drugs that hit two targets at once—a hidden risk for pharma
Researchers identified 34 medications that simultaneously activate both cell-surface receptors and internal kinase proteins, revealing unintended drug combinations that could amplify effects or trigger side effects. The finding has major implications for drug development and regulatory review, potentially explaining unexpected patient responses and informing smarter compound design.
Originaltitel: Drugs that act on both G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs) and kinases: potentiation of effects, side effects and general aspects of drug pleiotropy
BACKGROUND: A drug designed for a specific target often interacts with multiple targets, either unintentionally or as part of its intended mechanism of action. This has been called pharmacological pleiotropy or polypharmacology. There are key endogenous ligands such as ATP, GABA and glutamate that act on various proteins in humans. Furthermore, several drugs act on multiple proteins without apparent structural similarity. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and protein kinases are among the most important families of drug targets. The aim of this review analysis is to identify drugs with dual actions on GPCRs and kinases and clarify what is known about these actions. APPROACH: Data searches for ligands with affinity for both kinases and GPCRs were conducted in the Drugbank and Pharos databases. Physiochemical properties of selected compounds were identified using the rdMolDescriptors module from RDKit. A detailed literature search was conducted in search engines such as Google Scholar and Medline, to identify pleiotropic compounds with both GPCR and kinase affinity. OUTCOME: Thirty-four compounds were identified to interact with proteins within both the kinase and GPCR protein families. Notable examples included the drugs loratadine, terfenadine, clozapine, thioridazine, aripiprazole, fluspirilene, sorafenib, dasatinib and fasudil. CONCLUSIONS: Drug pleiotropy among GPCRs and kinases is a occurring phenomenon. Structural factors that may contribute to pleiotropy include chemical similarity to endogenous ligands, lipophilicity and planarity of chemical structure, which may guide the development of drugs with intentional multi-target effects. Although pleiotropy presents challenges in ensuring selectivity, it also creates opportunities for innovative therapeutic strategies if strategically applied.