Word: inhibitors
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Vertex's first major research effort--designing a safe and reliable inhibitor for the HIV protease that assists with the replication of the HIV virus--started with generating a molecular map of the protease enzyme...
Staphylococcus aureus, an "elite force" in the bacteria battalion, is an adaptable organism that has always developed antibiotic resistance with haste. For example, staphylococcus aureus becomes resistant to erythromycin, a protein inhibitor, after only seven to ten days. Resistance to penicillin developed a few years after its commercial production in 1941, and resistance to four or more antibiotics became the norm for 40 percent of the strains by the end of the 1950s...
They were right. Iproniazid is what is known as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAO). In the brain, scientists have subsequently learned, monoamine oxidase's job is to destroy leftover neurotransmitters that are floating around loose after they have done their work. By inhibiting the action of monoamine oxidase, drugs like iproniazid let neurotransmitters circulate and keep stimulating neurons longer than they normally would. An extended soaking in serotonin and norepinephrine evidently made for a happier patient, and MAO inhibitors became the first antidepressants...
...enzyme produced by HIV, the retrovirus that causes AIDS. Indeed, the AIDS drug AZT has already been shown to inhibit telomerase activity. But the viral enzyme and the human enzyme, says Colorado's Cech, are only 20% identical, which explains why AZT is not an ideal telomerase inhibitor. "What we want," he declares, "is a compound that fits telomerase the way a hand fits a glove...
...addiction, the brighter the prospects for treatment become. For instance, the discovery by Fowler and her team that a chemical that inhibits the mopping-up enzyme MAO B may play a role in cigarette addiction has already opened new possibilities for therapy. A number of well-tolerated MAO B-inhibitor drugs developed to treat Parkinson's disease could find a place in the antismoking arsenal. Equally promising, a Yale University team led by Eric Nestler and David Self has found that another type of compound--one that targets the dopamine receptor known as D1--seems to alleviate, at least...