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Understanding nuclear receptors using computational methods
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Understanding nuclear receptors using computational methods

Ni Ai, Matthew D Krasowski, William J Welsh and Sean Ekins
Drug discovery today, Vol.14(9), pp.486-494
2009
DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2009.03.003
PMCID: PMC2846174
PMID: 19429508
url
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2009.03.003View
Open Access

Abstract

Nuclear receptors (NRs) are important targets for therapeutic drugs. NRs regulate transcriptional activities through binding to ligands and interacting with several regulating proteins. Computational methods can provide insights into essential ligand–receptor and protein–protein interactions. These in turn have facilitated the discovery of novel agonists and antagonists with high affinity and specificity as well as have aided in the prediction of toxic side effects of drugs by identifying possible off-target interactions. Here, we review the application of computational methods toward several clinically important NRs (with special emphasis on PXR) and discuss their use for screening and predicting the toxic side effects of xenobiotics.

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