Computer-assisted identification of small-molecule Bcl-2 modulators.

Apoptosis, the programmed cell death, is a highly regulated process, necessary for normal development and homeostasis of the functions of organisms. The Bcl-2 inhibitors BH3I-1 and BH3I-2 were used as lead compounds to find possible Bcl-2 or Bcl-X(L) inhibitors by using computer-assisted screening with our in-house database, containing more than four million commercially available molecules. Identified compounds were further investigated regarding their possible application as a drug.

Cellular fingerprints: a novel approach using large-scale cancer cell line data for the identification of potential anticancer agents.

The cellular fingerprint, a novel in silico screening approach, was developed to identify new biologically active compounds in combination with structural fingerprints. To this end, high-throughput screening (HTS) data from the National Cancer Institute have been used. To validate this method, we have selected the proapoptotic, natural compound betulinic acid (BA).

Design and biological evaluation of photo-switchable inhibitors.

Photo-switchable compounds are becoming increasingly popular for a series of biological applications based on the reversible photo-control of structure and function of biomolecules. Three applications for the usage of BODTCM and hemithioindigo as photo-reactive compounds are described here. The structure of the villin headpiece was modified by replacing a part of the backbone with hemithioindigo, aiming at induction of the folding process by irradiation with a defined wavelength.

SuperNatural: a searchable database of available natural compounds.

Although tremendous effort has been put into synthetic libraries, most drugs on the market are still natural compounds or derivatives thereof. There are encyclopaedias of natural compounds, but the availability of these compounds is often unclear and catalogues from numerous suppliers have to be checked. To overcome these problems we have compiled a database of approximately 50,000 natural compounds from different suppliers.

Novel curcumin- and emodin-related compounds identified by in silico 2D/3D conformer screening induce apoptosis in tumor cells.

Background: Inhibition of the COP9 signalosome (CSN) associated kinases CK2 and PKD by curcumin causes stabilization of the tumor suppressor p53. It has been shown that curcumin induces tumor cell death and apoptosis. Curcumin and emodin block the CSN-directed c-Jun signaling pathway, which results in diminished c-Jun steady state levels in HeLa cells.