:
Allostery is an efficient and particular regulatory mechanism to regulate protein functions. Different from
conserved orthosteric sites, allosteric sites have distinctive functional mechanism to form the complex regulatory network.
In drug discovery, kinase inhibitors targeting the allosteric pockets have received extensive attention for the advantages of
high selectivity and low toxicity. The approval of trametinib as the first allosteric inhibitor validated that allosteric inhibitors
could be used as effective therapeutic drugs for treatment of diseases. To date, a wide range of allosteric inhibitors have
been identified. In this perspective, we outline different binding modes and potential advantages of allosteric inhibitors. In
the meantime, the research processes of typical and novel allosteric inhibitors are described briefly in terms of structureactivity relationships, ligand-protein interactions and in vitro and in vivo activity. Additionally, challenges as well as
opportunities are presented.
Discovery of chebulagic acid and punicalagin as novel allosteric inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro
