'Design, synthesis, and strategic use of small chemical probes toward identification of novel targets for drug development'.

Chemical probes are essential tools used to study and modulate biological systems. Here, we describe some of the recent scientific advancement in the field of chemical biology, as well as how the advent of new technologies is redefining the criteria of 'good' chemical probes and influencing the discovery of valuable drug leads. In this review, we report selected examples of the usage of linkered and linker-free chemical probes for target identification, biological discovery, and general mechanistic understanding.

Small-molecule stabilization of the p53 - 14-3-3 protein-protein interaction.

14-3-3 proteins are positive regulators of the tumor suppressor p53, the mutation of which is implicated in many human cancers. Current strategies for targeting of p53 involve restoration of wild-type function or inhibition of the interaction with MDM2, its key negative regulator. Despite the efficacy of these strategies, the alternate approach of stabilizing the interaction of p53 with positive regulators and, thus, enhancing tumor suppressor activity, has not been explored.

Hepatitis C virus translation inhibitors targeting the internal ribosomal entry site.

The internal ribosome entry site (IRES) in the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome initiates translation of the viral polyprotein precursor. The unique structure and high sequence conservation of the 5' UTR render the IRES RNA a potential target for the development of selective viral translation inhibitors. Here, we provide an overview of approaches to block HCV IRES function by nucleic acid, peptide, and small molecule ligands.