Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 22, 2025

Drug Repurposing Hypothesis Generation Using the "RE:fine Drugs" System
Published on: December 11, 2016
The Pharmacorank Search Tool for the Retrieval of Prioritized Protein Drug Targets and Drug Repositioning Candidates
Sergey Gnilopyat1, Paul J DePietro1, Thomas K Parry1
1Department of Medical Education, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, 525 Pine Street, Scranton, PA 18509, USA.
Abstract:
We present the Pharmacorank search tool as an objective means to obtain prioritized protein drug targets and their associated medications according to user-selected diseases. This tool could be used to obtain prioritized protein targets for the creation of novel medications or to predict novel indications for medications that already exist. To prioritize the proteins associated with each disease, a gene similarity profiling method based on protein functions is implemented. The priority scores of the proteins are found to correlate well with the likelihoods that the associated medications are clinically relevant in the disease's treatment. When the protein priority scores are plotted against the percentage of protein targets that are known to bind medications currently indicated to treat the disease, which we termed the pertinency score, a strong correlation was observed. The correlation coefficient was found to be 0.9978 when using a weighted second-order polynomial fit. As the highly predictive fit was made using a broad range of diseases, we were able to identify a general threshold for the pertinency score as a starting point for considering drug repositioning candidates. Several repositioning candidates are described for proteins that have high predicated pertinency scores, and these provide illustrative examples of the applications of the tool. We also describe focused reviews of repositioning candidates for Alzheimer's disease. Via the tool's URL, https://protein.som.geisinger.edu/Pharmacorank/, an open online interface is provided for interactive use; and there is a site for programmatic access.
More Related Videos
08:31Biosensor-based High Throughput Biopanning and Bioinformatics Analysis Strategy for the Global Validation of Drug-protein Interactions
Published on: December 1, 2020
10:21Author Spotlight: Streamlining Protein Target Prediction and Validation via Molecular Docking and CETSA
Published on: February 23, 2024
Related Concept Videos
Drug Discovery: Overview
Targets for Drug Action: Overview
Receptors are either membrane-spanning or intracellular proteins, which upon binding a ligand, get activated and transmit the signal downstream to elicit a response. Drugs bind receptors, either mimicking the action of endogenous ligands or blocking the receptor activity to bring about a modified response. Nearly 35% of approved drugs target the G...
Structure-Activity Relationships and Drug Design
SAR studies the intricate relationship between a drug's chemical structure and biological activity. It focuses on understanding how modifications to a drug's structure can influence...
Transducer Mechanism: Enzyme-Linked Receptors
Major types that are helpful drug targets include:
Protein-protein Interfaces
Protein Networks
These interactions can be represented through maps depicting protein-protein interaction networks, represented as nodes and edges. Nodes are circles that are representative of a protein,...