Week 3 Post 2

Understanding what proteins are is critical to being able to identify the protein pathways to target with a drug to disrupt the disease. Proteins are made up of amino acids bound together. They are unique not only in which amino acids makes them up, but also how the have folded into structures, and how those structures has folded. Some proteins also only work when folded with another protein. Proteins are very complex, and the amount of different proteins are vast. When a drug targets a specific protein, they are looking to interrupt its purpose and with that disrupt the disease. This is usually done by either blocking the binding location with a molecule, or making an inhibitor that will stop the production of whatever that protein is doing.

The way the drugs that are developed requires a deep understanding of proteins and protein structure. The chemistry involved in designing molecules to have very specific properties, and the biology to determine which proteins to target is immense. There are many different proteins in the body and they each carry out a different function. the process to identify the proteins is long and difficult.

Comments

  1. Ms. DunleySeptember 18, 2017 at 7:32 AM

    Can you explain what a protein is in this sense? It has been years since I had my chemistry course.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 26, 2017 at 3:48 PM

      Proteins are what carry out most of the things that happen in a cell. They are a string of Amino acids that have a specific structure and set of folding that makes them unique and allows them to carry out different actions.

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