All aspects of cellular regulation and function
Toxicity to healthy cells limits the usefulness of conventional chemotherapeutic agents. These drugs kill rapidly dividing cells of all types, not just those in a tumor. In addition to dividing rapidly, some cancer cells establish metastases that have a different stiffness than the surrounding tissue. This mechanical property of a cellular microenvironment is referred to … Read more
Extracellular signaling molecules mediate the communication between cells or tissues. These can be small proteins (peptides), large proteins, lipids, protein and lipid complexes, carbohydrates, gases, amino acids, nucleic acids, amino acids, and various small organic molecules. These signals can function locally, affecting cells that are near the cells producing the signal, or can function systemically … Read more
Overcoming side effects and toxicity of currently FDA-approved is possible. Sometimes combining multiple drugs with different mechanisms of action lets doctors use less of each drug to achieve the desired effect and limit or avoid off-target or dose-limiting effects. This is a common strategy used for anesthesia. Doctors give a “cocktail” of drugs with different … Read more
Ferrochelatase in heme biosynthesis Ferrochelatase (FECH) is an enzyme found in mitochondria that adds iron ions (Fe2+) into protoporphyrin to produce heme (Figure 1). This biochemical reaction is critical for cell health. The process is tightly controlled so that cells produce the amount of heme needed and do not accumulate too much of the heme … Read more
Benefits of Off-Target Effects There are many FDA-approved medicines. Most have some “off-target” effects, meaning effects that are not those intended for the drug. Sometimes these off-target effects limit the dose of a drug that can be used to treat the intended disease or symptom. Sometimes these off-target effects are unwanted side effects that the … Read more