Supramolecular chemistry is also important to the development of new pharmaceutical therapies by understanding the interactions at a drug binding site. The area of drug delivery has also made critical advances as a result of supramolecular chemistry providing encapsulation and targeted release mechanisms. In addition, supramolecular systems have been designed to disrupt protein-protein interactions that are important to cellular function.
Drug delivery
is a term that refers to the delivery of a pharmaceutical compound to humans or animals. Most common methods of delivery include the preferred non-invasive oral (through the mouth), nasal, pneumonial (inhalation), and rectal routes. Many medications, however, can not be delivered using these routes because they might be susceptible to degradation or are not incorporated efficiently. For this reason many protein and peptide drugs have to be delivered by injection. For example, many immunizations are based on the delivery of protein drugs and are often done by injection.
Current efforts in the area of drug delivery include the development of targeted delivery in which the drug is only active in the target area of the body (for example, in cancerous tissues) and sustained release formulations in which the drug is released over a period of time in a controlled manner from a formulation.
Current efforts in the area of drug delivery include the development of targeted delivery in which the drug is only active in the target area of the body (for example, in cancerous tissues) and sustained release formulations in which the drug is released over a period of time in a controlled manner from a formulation.
Protein-protein interactions
refer to the association of protein molecules and the study of these associations from the perspective of biochemistry, signal transduction and networks.
The interactions between proteins are important for many biological functions. For example, signals from the exterior of a cell are mediated to the inside of that cell by protein-protein interactions of the signaling molecules. This process, called signal transduction, plays a fundamental role in many biological processes and in many diseases (e.g. cancer). Proteins might interact for a long time to form part of a protein complex, a protein may be carrying another protein (for example, from cytoplasm to nucleus or vice versa in the case of the nuclear pore importins), or a protein may interact briefly with another protein just to modify it (for example, a protein kinase will add a phosphate to a target protein). This modification of proteins can itself change protein-protein interactions. For example, some proteins with SH2 domains only bind to other proteins when they are phosphorylated on the amino acid tyrosine. In conclusion, protein-protein interactions are of central importance for virtually every process in a living cell. Information about these interactions improves our understanding of diseases and can provide the basis for new therapeutic approaches.
The interactions between proteins are important for many biological functions. For example, signals from the exterior of a cell are mediated to the inside of that cell by protein-protein interactions of the signaling molecules. This process, called signal transduction, plays a fundamental role in many biological processes and in many diseases (e.g. cancer). Proteins might interact for a long time to form part of a protein complex, a protein may be carrying another protein (for example, from cytoplasm to nucleus or vice versa in the case of the nuclear pore importins), or a protein may interact briefly with another protein just to modify it (for example, a protein kinase will add a phosphate to a target protein). This modification of proteins can itself change protein-protein interactions. For example, some proteins with SH2 domains only bind to other proteins when they are phosphorylated on the amino acid tyrosine. In conclusion, protein-protein interactions are of central importance for virtually every process in a living cell. Information about these interactions improves our understanding of diseases and can provide the basis for new therapeutic approaches.
Protein-protein interaction network visualization
Visualization of protein-protein interaction networks is a popular application of scientific visualization techniques. Although protein interaction diagrams are common in textbooks, diagrams of whole cell protein interaction networks were not as common since the level of complexity made them difficult to generate. One example of a manually produced molecular interaction map is Kurt Kohn's 1999 map of cell cycle control Drawing on Kohn's map, in 2000 Schwikowski, Uetz, and Fields published a paper on protein-protein interactions in yeast, linking together 1,548 interacting proteins determined by two-hybrid testing. They used a force-directed (Sugiyama) graph drawing algorithm to automatically generate an image of their network.