Anti-Cancer
Drug Design and Discovery
Michael J. Waring, The University of Cambridge,
England
Michael J. Waring -
CV - PDF
Since the date of its humble origins in an Italian harbour at
the end of the Second World War cancer chemotherapy has come
a long way. Dealing as it does with mankind’s most feared
disease it has attracted over the years the attentions of a
galaxy of brilliant, talented, thoughtful scientists, and many
leads towards the discovery of new and better drugs have been
pursued with varying degrees of success. Drug design, whether
from de novo principles or from rational extension
of established therapies, is a relatively new phenomenon. As
with any other area of medicinal chemistry, serendipity or happy
accident has played an important part – as indeed it did
with the discovery of alkylating agents sixty years ago, or
more recently the chance observation of growth inhibition by
the now well-established platinum[II] compounds that have saved
millions of lives. In parallel, while the discovery of antibacterial
agents has totally revolutionised the treatment of infectious
disease antibiotics have likewise afforded a clutch of very
important drugs effective against cancer. But a quantum leap
forward has occurred quite recently with the explosion of knowledge
about the cell cycle and its control, mechanisms of cell signalling,
hormone mechanisms, apoptosis, and oncogenes. In the latter
area the discovery of cancer-predisposing and protective genes
has been seminal, and now powerful tools of the new science
of genomics are available to the cancer chemotherapist.
The first ICDDD to be held in Dubai in February 2008 will address
all areas pertinent to this endeavour, concentrating on leads
that arise from application of the new knowledge at the molecular
level. To name a few, there will be presentations concerned
with gene targeting, topoisomerase inhibitors, telomerase inhibitors,
kinase inhibitors, histone deacetylase inhibitors, receptor
blockers, angiogenesis inhibitors, metalloprotease inhibitors
and hypoxia-activated agents. The list is not exhaustive and
there will be plenty of room for contributions that stem from
other sources, aiming to provide a well-informed and productive
forum for examination of as wide a range as possible of approaches
developed in disparate laboratories world-wide.
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