DATTs: A Database of Disease-Associated Therapeutic Targets With Required Actions for Treatment

Proteins involved in pathophysiological mechanisms are widely recognized as promising therapeutic targets for drug discovery. The therapeutic effects of drugs are primarily mediated through the inhibition or activation of target proteins. Therefore, beyond identifying the appropriate molecular target, determining the direction of action on the target protein is a critical factor that shapes the efficacy and characteristics of a treatment. In this paper, we present DATTs (Disease-Associated Therapeutic Targets), which is a new database of therapeutic protein targets with required actions for medical treatment. The information is extracted from public documents such as scientific papers and medical textbooks. The available information includes disease-target protein associations and the actions of drugs on these proteins required for therapeutic effects (e.g., activation, inhibition, or targeting). The DATTs currently includes information on 613 diseases, 1475 therapeutic target proteins, and 7415 disease-protein associations. Additional information such as links to other databases containing data on the molecular functions of target proteins and classification of diseases is also accessible. The DATTs can provide useful clues for investigation of disease mechanisms, novel drug design, and drug repositioning. The DATTs is accessible at https://datts.nibb.ac.jp/.