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Review
. 2022 Dec 21;26(6):254-265.
doi: 10.1080/19768354.2022.2157480. eCollection 2022.

Drug discovery inspired by bioactive small molecules from nature

Seyun Kim  1 , Seol-Wa Lim  1 , Jiyeon Choi  1
Affiliations
Review

Drug discovery inspired by bioactive small molecules from nature

Seyun Kim et al. Anim Cells Syst (Seoul). .

Abstract

Natural products (NPs) have greatly contributed to the development of novel treatments for human diseases such as cancer, metabolic disorders, and infections. Compared to synthetic chemical compounds, primary and secondary metabolites from medicinal plants, fungi, microorganisms, and our bodies are promising resources with immense chemical diversity and favorable properties for drug development. In addition to the well-validated significance of secondary metabolites, endogenous small molecules derived from central metabolism and signaling events have shown great potential as drug candidates due to their unique metabolite-protein interactions. In this short review, we highlight the values of NPs, discuss recent scientific and technological advances including metabolomics tools, chemoproteomics approaches, and artificial intelligence-based computation platforms, and explore potential strategies to overcome the current challenges in NP-driven drug discovery.

Keywords: Natural product; cell signaling; drug discovery; metabolite; metabolomics.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Biological actions of endogenous small molecules in the control of cellular signaling and metabolism via metabolite-protein interactions.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Strategy of secondary metabolites-inspired drug discovery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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