Novel Ligands Targeting αβ Integrin: Therapeutic Applications and Perspectives

Overview

Journal Front Chem

Specialty Chemistry

Date 2019 Jul 25

PMID 31338363

Citations 35

Authors

Monica Baiula

Santi Spampinato

Luca Gentilucci

Alessandra Tolomelli

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Among the other members of the adhesion molecules' family, αβ integrin, a heterodimeric receptor, plays a crucial role in inflammatory diseases, cancer development, metastasis and stem cell mobilization or retention. In many cases, its function in pathogenesis is not yet completely understood and investigations on ligand binding and related stabilization of active/inactive conformations still represent an important goal. For this reason, starting from the highlight of αβ functions in human pathologies, we report an overview of synthetic αβ integrin ligands under development as potential therapeutic agents. The small molecule library that we have selected represents a collection of lead compounds. These molecules are the object of future refinement in academic and industrial research, in order to achieve a fine tuning of αβ integrin regulation for the development of novel agents against pathologies still eluding an effective solution.

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