Lesson plan
Antitarget
In pharmacology, an antitarget (or off-target) is a receptor, enzyme, or other biological target that, when affected by a drug, causes undesirable side-effects. During drug design and development, it is important for pharmaceutical companies to ensure that new drugs do not show significant activity at any of a range of antitargets, most of which are discovered largely by chance. Among the best-known and most significant antitargets are the hERG channel and the 5-HT 2B receptor, both of which cause long-term problems with heart function that can prove fatal (long QT syndrome and cardiac fibrosis, respectively), in a small but unpredictable proportion of users. Both of these targets were discovered as a result of high levels of distinctive side-effects during the marketing of certain medicines, and, while some older drugs with significant hERG activity are still used with caution, most drugs that have been found to be strong 5-HT 2B agonists were withdrawn from the market, and any new compound will almost always be discontinued from further development if initial screening shows high affinity for these targets. Agonism of the 5-HT 2A receptor is an antitarget because 5-HT 2A receptor agonists are associated with hallucinogenic effects. According to David E.…
Article summary
In pharmacology, an antitarget (or off-target) is a receptor, enzyme, or other biological target that, when affected by a drug, causes undesirable side-effects. During drug design and development, it is important for pharmaceutical companies to ensure that new drugs do not show significant activity at any of a range of antitargets, most of which are discovered largely by chance. Among the best-known and most significant antitargets are the hERG channel and the 5-HT 2B receptor, both of which cause long-term problems with heart function that can prove fatal (long QT syndrome and cardiac fibrosis, respectively), in a small but unpredictable proportion of users. Both of these targets were discovered as a result of high levels of distinctive side-effects during the marketing of certain medicines, and, while some older drugs with significant hERG activity are still used with caution, most drugs that have been found to be strong 5-HT 2B agonists were withdrawn from the market, and any new compound will almost always be discontinued from further development if initial screening shows high affinity for these targets. Agonism of the 5-HT 2A receptor is an antitarget because 5-HT 2A receptor agonists are associated with hallucinogenic effects. According to David E.…
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.