Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2025

A Tripeptide-Stabilized Nanoemulsion of Oleic Acid
Published on: February 27, 2019
Covalent drugs based on small molecules and peptides for disease theranostics
Ying-Jin Zhang1,2, Jian-Xiao Liang2,3, Yin-Sheng Xu2
1Henan Institute of Advanced Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, P.R. China.
Abstract:
Biomacromolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids and polysaccharides, are widely distributed in the human body, and some of them have been recognized as the targets of drugs for disease theranostics. Drugs typically act on targets in two ways: non-covalent bond and covalent bond. Non-covalent bond-based drugs have some disadvantages, such as structural instability and environmental sensitivity. Covalent interactions between drugs and targets have a longer action time, higher affinity and controllability than non-covalent interactions of conventional drugs. With the development of artificial intelligence, covalent drugs have received more attention and have been developed rapidly in pharmaceutical research in recent years. From the perspective of covalent drugs, this review summarizes the design methods and the effects of covalent drugs. Finally, we discuss the application of covalent peptide drugs and expect to provide a new reference for cancer treatment.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Targeted Cancer Therapies
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
Drug Discovery: Overview
Drug-Receptor Bonds
In...
Principles of Drug Action
Drugs can be agonists or antagonists. Like the endogenous ligands, agonists always bind and activate the target to produce a cellular response. Agonist binding induces a conformational change which in turn...
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...
Transducer Mechanism: Enzyme-Linked Receptors
Major types that are helpful drug targets include:

