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Published on: March 6, 2019
Thiol Modification By Pharmacologically Active Agents of the Diazeniumdiolate Class
Anna E Maciag1, Ryan J Holland, Joseph E Saavedra
1Basic Science Program, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., Frederick, Maryland.
None:
Promising drug candidates of the diazeniumdiolate (NONOate) chemical family include several types of thiol modification among their mechanisms of action: 1) drugs designed to release nitric oxide (NO) on reaction with the thiol group of glutathione (GSH) arylate the GSH, a step that removes reducing equivalents from the cell; (2) a similar reaction of the drug with the thiol group of a protein changes its structure, leading to potentially impaired function and cell death; (3) the NO generated as a byproduct in the above reactions can undergo oxidation, leading to S-nitrosylation and S-glutathionylation; and (4) diazeniumdiolates can also generate nitroxyl, which reacts with thiol groups to form disulfides or sulfinamides.
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