Background:
One of the major goals of computational chemists is to determine and develop
the pathways for anticancer drug discovery and development. In recent past, high performance computing
systems elicited the desired results with little or no side effects. The aim of the current review is to evaluate the
role of computational chemistry in ascertaining kinases as attractive targets for anticancer drug discovery and
development.
Methods:
Research related to computational studies in the field of anticancer drug development is reviewed.
Extensive literature on achievements of theorists in this regard has been compiled and presented with special
emphasis on kinases being the attractive anticancer drug targets.
Results:
Different approaches to facilitate anticancer drug discovery include determination of actual targets,
multi-targeted drug discovery, ligand-protein inverse docking, virtual screening of drug like compounds, formation
of di-nuclear analogs of drugs, drug specific nano-carrier design, kinetic and trapping studies in drug design,
multi-target QSAR (Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship) model, targeted co-delivery of anticancer
drug and siRNA, formation of stable inclusion complex, determination of mechanism of drug resistance, and
designing drug like libraries for the prediction of drug-like compounds. Protein kinases have gained enough
popularity as attractive targets for anticancer drugs. These kinases are responsible for uncontrolled and deregulated
differentiation, proliferation, and cell signaling of the malignant cells which result in cancer.
Conclusion:
Interest in developing drugs through computational methods is a growing trend, which saves
equally the cost and time. Kinases are the most popular targets among the other for anticancer drugs which
demand attention. 3D-QSAR modelling, molecular docking, and other computational approaches have not only
identified the target-inhibitor binding interactions for better anticancer drug discovery but are also designing and
predicting new inhibitors, which serve as lead for the synthetic preparation of drugs. In light of computational
studies made so far in this field, the current review highlights the importance of kinases as attractive targets for
anticancer drug discovery and development.