target proteins

A membrane protein is a protein molecule that is attached to or associated with the membrane of a cell or an organelle. Membrane proteins can be classified into two groups based on how the protein is associated with the membrane: integral membrane proteins and peripheral membrane proteins. In humans, about 30% genome encodes membrane proteins. Membrane proteins perform a variety of functions vital to the survival of organisms, for example, signal transduction, molecules or ion transportation, enzymatic catalysis, and intercellular communication. Membrane proteins also play important roles in drug discovery. As reported, more than 60% of current drug targets are membrane proteins.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 7,125 compounds targeting a variety of membrane proteins. MCE Membrane Protein-targeted Compound Library can be used for membrane protein-focused screening and drug discovery.

Proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) has been developed to be a useful technology for targeted protein degradation. PROTACs consist of a ligand for E3 ligase (E3 ligase binder), a linker and a ligand (mostly small-molecule inhibitor) for protein of interest（target binder）. Upon binding to the target protein, the PROTACs can recruit E3 for target protein ubiquitination, which is subjected to proteasome-mediated degradation. Therefore, PROTACs execute their functions by degrading the target proteins rather than inhibiting them, which has a great superiority in overcoming resistance caused by target mutation or overexpression. To date, PROTAC technology has been applied to a variety of targets, including AR, ER, BTK, BET, and BCR-ABL to overcome resistance.

MCE carefully prepared a unique collection of 33 ligands for target proteins, which have been reported to be used in PROTAC design. MCE Target Protein Ligand Library is a useful tool for PROTAC development.

Protein Kinases (PTKs) are a class of phosphotransferases that phosphorylate proteins. Protein kinases participate in many signal transduction pathways including those involved with growth, differentiation, and cell division. Protein kinase not only plays an important role in the process of cell activation, but also its abnormal expression is closely related to the pathogenesis of many diseases. So far, the protein kinase family has become one of the most important drug targets. The most common drug targets include ALK, B-Raf, BCR-Abl, EGFR, and VEGFR.

MCE designs a unique collection of 2,930 bioactive compounds targeting protein kinases, which is an important tool for the development of drug targeting protein kinases.

Targeted protein degradation(TPD) is a novel and promising approach to new drug discovery and development. It shows great potential for treating diseases with “undruggable” pathogenic protein targets and for overcoming drug resistance. Molecular glues and PROTACs are both targeted protein degraders that have attracted the most attention.

Molecular glues are small molecular degraders that mainly induce novel interaction between an E3 ligase and a target protein to form a ternary complex, leading to protein ubiquitination and subsequent proteasome degradation. Compared with PROTACs, molecular glues generally possess more favorable drug-like properties, such as lower MW, higher cell permeability, and better oral absorption. Molecular glues are emerging as a promising new therapeutic strategy.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 35 molecular glues which target various proteins. MCE Molecular Glue Compound Library is a useful tool to conduct scientific research and disease mechanism study.

Macrocycles, molecules containing 12-membered or larger rings, are receiving increased attention in small-molecule drug discovery. The reasons are several, including providing access to novel chemical space, challenging new protein targets, showing favorable ADME- and PK-properties. Macrocycles have demonstrated repeated success when addressing targets that have proved to be highly challenging for standard small-molecule drug discovery, especially in modulating macromolecular processes such as protein–protein interactions (PPI). Otherwise, the size and complexity of macrocyclic compounds make possible to ensure numerous and spatially distributed binding interactions, thereby increasing both binding affinity and selectivity.

MCE offers a unique collection of 387 macrocyclic compounds which can be used for drug discovery for high throughput screening (HTS) and high content screening (HCS). MCE Macrocyclic Compound Library is a useful tool for discovering new drugs, especially for “undruggable” targets and protein–protein interactions.

Protein phosphorylation is a key post-translational modification underlying the regulation of many cellular processes. Phosphatases and kinases contribute to the regulation of protein phosphorylation homeostasis in the cell. This reversible regulation of protein phosphorylation is critical for the proper control of a wide range of cellular activities, including cell cycle, proliferation and differentiation, metabolism, cell-cell interactions, etc.

Protein phosphatases have evolved in separate families that are structurally and mechanistically distinct. Based on substrate specificity and functional diversity, protein phosphatases are classified into two superfamilies: Protein serine/threonine phosphatases and Protein tyrosine phosphatases. Ser/Thr phosphatases are metalloenzymes belonging to two major gene families termed PPP (phosphoprotein phosphatase) and PPM (metal-dependent protein phosphatases), whereas protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) belong to distinct classes of enzymes that utilize a phospho-cysteine enzyme intermediate as a part of their catalytic action.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 117 phosphatase inhibitors that mainly targeting protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) and serine/threonine-specific protein phosphatases. MCE Phosphatase Inhibitor Library is a useful tool for phosphatase drug discovery and related research.

Peptidomimetics are compounds whose essential elements (pharmacophore) mimic a natural peptide or protein in 3D space and which retain the ability to interact with the biological target and produce the same biological effect. Peptidomimetics are designed to circumvent some of the problems associated with a natural peptide: e.g. stability against proteolysis (duration of activity) and poor bioavailability. Certain other properties, such as receptor selectivity or potency, often can be substantially improved. The design and synthesis of peptidomimetics are most important because of the dominant position peptide and protein-protein interactions play in molecular recognition and signaling, especially in living systems. Hence mimics have great potential in drug discovery.

MCE Peptidomimetic Library contains 374 compounds including peptoid, α-helix mimetics, β-turn/sheets mimetics, etc. This library is an indispensable tool of structure-activity relationships in drug discovery.

Covalent inhibitors are small molecules that can bind specifically to target proteins through covalent bonds and inhibit their biological functions. Although for a long time, covalent targeting has been playing a subordinate role in drug discovery, with an increasing number of reports on successful clinical applications of such drugs, the potential of these agents is now being acknowledged.

Covalent ligands rely on reactive groups (“warheads”), and new warheads are key to expanding the scope of covalent modalities. Through careful selection, we constructed a structural filter containing over 110 electrophilic groups. By analyzing the electrophilic fragments selected by the structural filter, we removed any molecules with trivial or undesirable structural features. Ultimately, we obtained 8,900 fragment molecules with covalent modification potential, which can target various reactive amino acid residues and can be used for fragment-based covalent drug discovery.

Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) are key signaling molecules and important drug targets. Two classes of PTKs are present in cells: the transmembrane receptor PTKs (RTKs) and the nonreceptor PTKs. The RTK family includes the receptors for insulin and for many growth factors, such as EGFR, FGFR, PDGFR, VEGFR, and NGFR. RTKs are transmembrane glycoproteins that are activated by the binding of their ligands, and they transduce the extracellular signal to the cytoplasm by phosphorylating tyrosine residues on the receptors themselves (autophosphorylation) and on downstream signaling proteins. Their principal functions of PTKs involve the regulation of multicellular aspects of the organism. Cell to cell signals concerning growth, differentiation, adhesion, motility, and death are frequently transmitted through tyrosine kinases. In humans, tyrosine kinases have been demonstrated to play significant roles in the development of many disease states, including diabetes and cancers.

MCE designs a unique collection of 1,052 compounds that act as a useful tool for PTKs-related drug screening and disease research.

PROTACs (Proteolysis-targeting chimeras) is a class of molecules that utilize ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) to ubiquitinate and degrade target proteins. The PROTACs molecule consists of two ligands joined by a linker. The one-to-one interaction between PROTACs and target proteins determines the high efficiency of PROTACs, making it a potential molecule for targeted protein degradation (TPD) therapy.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 273 PROTACs that effectively degrade target proteins with more powerful screening capability. MCE PROTAC Library is a useful tool for signal pathway research, protein degradation therapy research, drug discovery and drug repurposing, etc.

Kinase is an enzyme that adds phosphate groups to other molecules. This process is known as phosphorylation. Protein phosphorylation is a key aspect in the regulation of a large number of cellular processes including cellular division, metabolism, signal transduction, and so on. There are over 500 kinases encoded by the human genome and it has been estimated that kinases regulate approximately 50% of cellular functions. Kinases are a large group of drug targets in drug discovery. Kinase inhibitors are an important class of drugs that block certain enzymes involved in diseases such as cancer and inflammatory disorders.

Kinase inhibitor library designed by MCE contains 2,658 kinase inhibitors and regulators mainly targeting protein kinases (VEGFR, EGFR, BTK, CDK, Akt, etc.), lipid kinases (PI3K, PI4K, SK, etc.) and carbohydrate kinases (Hexokinase), and is a useful tool for kinase drug discovery and related research.

Small molecule covalent inhibitors, or irreversible inhibitors, are a type of inhibitors that exert their biological functions by irreversibly binding to target through covalent bonds. Compared with non-covalent inhibitors, covalent inhibitors have obvious advantages in bioactivity, such that covalent warheads can target rare residues of a particular target protein, thus leading to the development of highly selective inhibitors and achieving a more complete and continued target occupancy in living systems. In recent years, the distinct strengths of covalent inhibitors in overcoming drug resistance had been recognized. However, toxicity can be a real challenge related to this class of therapeutics due to their potential for off-target reactivity and has led to these drugs being disfavored as a drug class. The drug design and optimization of covalent inhibitors has become a hot spot in drug discovery.

MCE covalent inhibitor library contains 1,660 small molecules including identified covalent inhibitors and other bioactive molecules having common covalent reactive groups as warheads, such as acrylamides, activated terminal acetylenes, Sulfonyl fluorides/esters, cloracetamides, alkyl halides, epoxides, aziridines, disulfides, etc.

GPCRs are a large family of cell surface receptors that respond to a variety of external signals. Binding of a signaling molecule to a GPCR results in G protein activation, which in turn triggers the production of any number of second messengers. GPCRs play an important role in the human body, and increased understanding of these receptors has greatly affected modern medicine. In fact, researchers estimate that between one-third to one-half of all approved drugs act by binding to GPCRs. GPCRs are a large group of drug targets in drug discovery.

MCE provides a unique collection of 2,419 small molecules targeting GPCRs that can be used in the screening for various GPCRs-related research and drug development projects.

Small molecule covalent inhibitors, or irreversible inhibitors, are a type of inhibitors that exert their biological functions by irreversibly binding to target through covalent bonds. Compared with non-covalent inhibitors, covalent inhibitors have obvious advantages in bioactivity, such that covalent warheads can target rare residues of a particular target protein, thus leading to the development of highly selective inhibitors and achieving a more complete and continued target occupancy in living systems. In recent years, the distinct strengths of covalent inhibitors in overcoming drug resistance had been recognized. However, toxicity can be a real challenge related to this class of therapeutics due to their potential for off-target reactivity and has led to these drugs being disfavored as a drug class. The drug design and optimization of covalent inhibitors has become a hot spot in drug discovery.

MCE covalent inhibitor library contains 2,971 small molecules including identified covalent inhibitors and other molecules having common covalent reactive groups as warheads, such as acrylamides, activated terminal acetylenes, sulfonyl fluorides/esters, cloracetamides, alkyl halides, epoxides, aziridines, disulfides, etc.

MCE Covalent inhibitor Library plus, with more powerful screening capability, further complement Covalent inhibitor Library (HY-L036) by adding some fragment compounds with covalent warheads.

Protein serine/threonine kinases (PSKs) are protein kinases that use ATP as a high-energy donor molecule to transfer phosphate groups to serine/threonine residues of target protein. As an important signal transduction regulator, serine/threonine kinases can affect the function of target proteins by disrupting enzyme activity or binding of target proteins to other proteins. Serine/threonine kinases are involved in the regulation of immune response, cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and other physiological processes. Serine/threonine kinase inhibitors are an important class of compounds that have been widely studied in cancer, chronic inflammation, autoimmune diseases, aging and other diseases.

MCE designs a unique collection of 1,288 serine/threonine kinase inhibitors, mainly targeting the receptor PKA, Akt, PKC, MAPK/ERK, etc, which is an effective tool for development and research of anti-cancer, anti-chronic inflammatory diseases, anti-autoimmune diseases and anti-aging compounds.

Small molecule covalent inhibitors, or irreversible inhibitors, are a type of inhibitors that exert their biological functions by irreversibly binding to target through covalent bonds. Compared with non-covalent inhibitors, covalent inhibitors have obvious advantages in bioactivity, such that covalent warheads can target rare residues of a particular target protein, thus leading to the development of highly selective inhibitors and achieving a more complete and continued target occupancy in living systems. In recent years, the distinct strengths of covalent inhibitors in overcoming drug resistance had been recognized. However, toxicity can be a real challenge related to this class of therapeutics due to their potential for off-target reactivity and has led to these drugs being disfavored as a drug class. The drug design and optimization of covalent inhibitors has become a hot spot in drug discovery.

MCE Lead-like Covalent Screening Library offers a valuable resource of 500 lead-like compounds with commonly used covalent warheads. These warheads, such as acrylamide, activated terminal alkyne, acyloxymethyl ketone, and boronic acid, are capable of reacting with specific amino acid residues, including cysteine, lysine, serine, and histidine. The inclusion of these reactive warheads in the library allows researchers to explore the potential of covalent inhibition, a powerful approach in drug discovery.

The cytoskeleton is responsible for contraction, cell motility, movement of organelles and vesicles through the cytoplasm, cytokinesis, intracellular signal transduction, and many other functions that are essential for cellular homeostasis and survival. It accomplishes these tasks through three basic structures: F-actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments (IFs). The cytoskeleton is a dynamic structure where the three major filaments and tubules are under the influence of proteins that regulate their length, state of polymerization, and level of cross-linking. Since cytoskeleton is involved in virtually all cellular processes, cytoskeletal protein aberrations are the underlying reason for many pathological phenotypes, including several cardiovascular disease syndromes, neurodegeneration, cancer, liver cirrhosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and blistering skin diseases.

MCE designs a unique collection of 1,313 cytoskeleton-related compounds mainly focusing on the key targets in the cytoskeleton signal pathway and can be used in the research of cytoskeleton signal pathway and related diseases.

Antibody inhibitors are compounds with the same activity as the original therapeutic antibodies, which can be used as positive controls for drug efficacy evaluation and other studies. Antibody inhibitors can also assist in verifying the functional activity of the target protein. These antibody inhibitors are active in vivo and can achieve certain physiological functions by blocking or neutralizing target proteins, such as CD20, HER2, EGFR, VEGFR, TNF-α, etc. In drug screening, antibody inhibitor-based screening can be carried out to identify active compounds targeting target proteins and target diseases.

MCE can provide 914 antibody inhibitors that can be used for drug development in cancer, immunity, infection and other hot research areas.

Proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) has been developed to be a useful technology for targeted protein degradation. PROTACs consist of a ligand for E3 ligase (E3 ligase binder), a linker and a ligand (mostly small-molecule inhibitor) for protein of interest（target binder）. Upon binding to the target protein, the PROTACs can recruit E3 for target protein ubiquitination, which is subjected to proteasome-mediated degradation.

Although there are more than 600 E3 ubiquitin ligases, only several with small molecule ligands have been used for designing PROTACs, including Skp1-Cullin-F box complex containing Hrt1 (SCF), Von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (VHL), Cereblon (CRBN), inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs), and mouse double minute 2 homolog (MDM2).

MCE carefully prepared a unique collection of 52 ligands for E3 ligase, which have been reported to be used in PROTAC design. MCE E3 ligase ligand library is a useful tool for PROTAC development.

Protein protein interactions (PPI) have pivotal roles in life processes. The studies showed that aberrant PPI are associated with various diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. The classic drug targets are usually enzymes, ion channels, or receptors, the PPI indicate new potential therapeutic targets. Therefore, targeting PPI is a new direction in treating diseases and an essential strategy for the development of new drugs.

However, the design of modulators targeting PPI still faces tremendous challenges, such the difficult PPI interfaces for the drug design, lack of ligands reference, lack of guidance rules for the PPI modulators development and high-resolution PPI proteins structures.

With the development of high-throughput technology, high-throughput screening is also gradually used for the identification of PPI inhibitors, but the compound library used for conventional target screening is not very effective in screening PPI inhibitors. To improve screening efficiency, MCE carefully selected 587 PPI inhibitors and mainly targeting MDM2-p53, Keap1-Nrf2, PD-1/PD-L1, Myc-Max, etc. MCE Protein-protein Interaction Inhibitor Library is a useful tool for PPI drug discovery and related research.

Transcription is the essential first step in the conversion of the genetic information in the DNA into protein and the major point at which gene expression is controlled. Transcription of protein-coding genes is accomplished by the multi-subunit enzyme RNA polymerase II and an ensemble of ancillary proteins, called transcription factors (TFs). Transcription factors play an important role in the long-term regulation of cell growth, differentiation and responses to environmental cues. Deregulated transcription factors contribute to the pathogenesis of a plethora of human diseases, ranging from diabetes, inflammatory disorders and cardiovascular disease to many cancers, and thus these proteins hold great therapeutic potential.

MCE offers a unique collection of 1,389 compounds with validated transcription factor targets modulating properties. MCE transcription factor-targeted compound library is an effective tool for researching transcription factors as drug targets as well as modulation of TFs for different therapeutic applications.

A unique set of molecules containing mild electrophilic moieties that covalently interact with amino acid residues in the target protein. The diversity of our compounds for covalent drug discovery ranges from natural product-like scaffolds to macrocycles, creating multiple opportunities in hit generation for a selected target.

Lysine is the second most common target residue used in the design of TCIs and related covalent ligands. Its appeal lies in its abundance in human proteins, which is approximately three times higher than that of cysteine (5.8% vs. 1.9%). This significantly increases the number of proteins suitable for covalent targeting, especially given that many human proteins lack ligandable cysteine residues. Moreover, it has been suggested that functional lysines have a lower probability of being replaced by mutation, as they often play a crucial role in catalysis by acting as bases or nucleophiles. Additionally, lysines are essential for maintaining the structural integrity of proteins and for regulating post-translational modifications (PTMs). Consequently, targeting lysine has garnered significant interest in recent years.

Through careful selection, we constructed a structural filter containing over 110 electrophilic groups. By analyzing the electrophilic fragments selected by the structural filter, we removed any molecules with trivial or undesirable structural features. Ultimately, we obtained 445 fragment molecules which can target lysine residue and can be used for fragment-based covalent drug discovery.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and seriously threatens human health. A neoplasm and malignant tumor are other common names for cancer. Disruption of the normal regulation of cell-cycle progression and division lies at the heart of the events leading to cancer. Target therapy, which targets proteins that control how cancer cells grow, divide and spread, plays an important role in cancer treatment. Recent studies mainly focus on targeting the key proteins for cancer surviving, cancer stem cells, the tumor microenvironment, tumor immunology, etc.

MCE designs a unique collection of 8,054 anti-cancer compounds that target kinases, cell cycle key components, tumorigenesis related signaling pathways, etc. MCE Anti-cancer compound library is a useful tool for anti-cancer drug screening.

Protein ubiquitination is an enzymatic post-translational modification in which an ubiquitin protein is attached to a substrate protein. Ubiquitination involves three main steps: activation, conjugation, and ligation, performed by ubiquitin-activating enzymes (E1s), ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (E2s), and ubiquitin ligases (E3s), respectively. Ubiquitination affects cellular processes such as apoptosis, cell cycle, DNA damage repair, and membrane transportation, etc. by regulating the degradation of proteins (via the proteasome and lysosome), altering the cellular localization of proteins, affecting proteins activity, and promoting or preventing protein-protein interactions. Deregulation of ubiquitin pathway leads to many diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer, infection and immunity, etc.

MCE offers a unique collection of 253 small molecule modulators with biological activity used for ubiquitination research. Compounds in this library target the key enzymes in ubiquitin pathway. MCE Ubiquitination Compound Library is a useful tool for the research of ubiquitination regulation and the corresponding diseases.

Agonistic drugs activate or stimulate their receptors, triggering responses that increase or decrease cell activity. The highly selective activators can act on specific biological or molecular targets, while non-selective activators may interfere with multiple targets or targets simultaneously. The highly selective activators reduce the likelihood of these non-specific effects by targeting specific targets, making research more precise and reliable. The Highly Selective Activators Library contains 1,488 compounds, covering multiple targets and subtypes, such as GPCR protein family, Ion channel, multiple kinases, etc. The Highly Selective Activators Library is an effective tool for screening different phenotypes.

A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the formation of new protein products. Proteases play important roles in regulating multiple biological processes in all living organisms, such as regulating the fate, localization, and activity of many proteins, modulating protein-protein interactions, creating new bioactive molecules, contributing to the processing of cellular information, and generating, transducing, and amplifying molecular signals.

Proteases are important targets in drug discovery. Some protease inhibitors are often used as anti-virus drugs and anti-cancer drugs. MCE offers a unique collection of 592 protease inhibitors. MCE Protease Inhibitor Library is critical for drug discovery and development.

The occurrence of diseases is often associated with multiple targets and pathways, and the factors of disease formation are complex and diverse, so the development of more powerful drugs is needed. According to statistics, 21% of the FDA-approved drugs in 2015-2017 were multi-target compounds. Multi-target compounds refer to a drug targeting multiple disease-related targets or multiple subtypes of a target. Multi-target compounds can be applied to drug screening or targeted ligand design. Because the targets of such compounds are diverse and clear, they have the characteristics of saving time and drug cost during the mechanism research of new drug research and development. In addition, due to the diversity of drug targets, multiple strategies can be applied to pharmacological studies.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 4,411 multi-target compounds that targets two or more different targets or different subtypes of the same target. MCE Multi-Target Compound Library can be used for target protein ligand screening or drug development.

According to reports, most known kinase inhibitors exert their effects through competitive binding in highly conserved ATP pockets. Although genetic techniques such as RNA interference can inactivate specific genes, most kinases are multi domain proteins, each of which has an independent function. Highly selective inhibitors have higher efficiency than non-selective inhibitors, and the selectivity to the target is at least 100 times higher. Therefore, ensuring the validation of targets with the most selective inhibitors is crucial for a more thorough understanding of the pharmacology of the kinase field. The Highly Selective Inhibitors Library contains 4,617 compounds, covering multiple targets and subtypes, such as GPCR protein family, Ion channel, multiple kinases, etc. The Highly Selective Inhibitors Library is an effective tool for screening different phenotypes

Viruses are much simpler organisms than bacteria, and they are made from protein substances and nucleic acid. Despite the fact that the exact mechanism of infection is extremely specific to each type of virus, the general scheme of infection can be represented in the following manner: A virus is absorbed at the surface of a host cell and then permeates through the membrane, where it releases nucleic acid from its protein protection. Then the viral nucleic acid begins to replicate, and transcription of the viral genome takes place either in the cytoplasm, or in the nucleus of the host cell. As a result of these events, a large amount of viral nucleic acid and protein are made to make new generations of virions. Therefore, one mechanism of action of antiviral drugs is to interfere with the ability of a virus to get into a target cell. A second mechanism of action is to target the processes that synthesize virus components after a virus invades a cell, such as nucleotide or nucleoside analogs.

MCE designs a unique collection of 1,312 anti-virus compounds that target several viruses, including SARS-CoV, HBV, HCV, HIV, HSV and Influenza Virus. It’s an effective tool for anti-virus drug discovery.

Protein protein interactions (PPI) have pivotal roles in life processes. The studies showed that aberrant PPI are associated with various diseases. However, the design of modulators targeting PPI still faces tremendous challenges, such the difficult PPI interfaces for the drug design, lack of ligands reference, lack of guidance rules for the PPI modulators development and high-resolution PPI proteins structures.

The PPI Library comprises molecules of various sizes, frameworks, and shapes ranging from fragment-like entities to macrocyclic derivatives designed as secondary structure mimetics or as epitope mimetics. The designs cover β-turn / loop mimetics and α-helix mimetics. Since helices present at the interface in 62% of all protein-protein interactions. This library focused on designs including mimics with the substitution geometry of an a-helices, as well as designs that mimic the location of “hot-spot” side chains in helix-mediated PPIs.

Membrane receptors, also known cell surface receptors or transmembrane receptors, are transmembrane proteins embedded into the plasma membrane which play an essential role in maintaining communication between the internal processes within the cell and various types of extracellular signals. They act in cell signaling by receiving (binding to) extracellular molecules, which are also called ligands. These extracellular molecules include hormones, cytokines, growth factors, neurotransmitters, lipophilic signaling molecules such as prostaglandins, and cell recognition molecules.

There are three kinds of membrane receptors: ion channel-linked receptors, enzyme-linked receptors and G-protein-linked receptors. They play important roles in keeping human normal physiologic processes. GPCRs and ion channels are important drug targets in drug discovery.

MCE provides a unique collection of 4,848 compounds targeting a variety of membrane receptors. MCE Membrane reeptor-targeted Compound Library can be used for membrane receptor-focused screening and drug discovery.

Most of molecules enter or leave cells mainly via membrane transport proteins, which play important roles in several cellular functions, including cell metabolism, ion homeostasis, signal transduction, the recognition process in the immune system, energy transduction, etc. There are three major types of transport proteins, ATP-powered pumps, channel proteins and transporters. Transport proteins such as channels and transporters play important roles in the maintenance of intracellular homeostasis, and mutations in these transport protein genes have been identified in the pathogenesis of a number of hereditary diseases. In the central nervous system, ion channels have been linked to, but not limited to, many diseases such asataxias, paralyses, epilepsies, and deafness. This indicates the roles of ion channels in the initiation and coordination of movement, sensory perception, and encoding and processing of information. Ion channels are a major class of drug targets in drug development.

MCE designs a unique collection of 1,476 smal-molecule modulators that can be used for the research of Ion Channel and Membrane Transporter or high throughput screening (HTS) related drug discovery.

Neurotransmitter (NT) receptors, also known as neuroreceptors, are a broadly diverse group of membrane proteins that bind neurotransmitters for neuronal signaling. There are two major types of neurotransmitter receptors: ionotropic and metabotropic. Ionotropic receptors are ligand-gated ion channels, meaning that the receptor protein includes both a neurotransmitter binding site and an ion channel. The binding of a neurotransmitter molecule (the ligand) to the binding site induces a conformational change in the receptor structure, which opens, or gates, the ion channel. The term “metabotropic receptors” is typically used to refer to transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptors. Metabotropic receptors trigger second messenger-mediated effects within cells after neurotransmitter binding.

In some neurological diseases, the neurotransmitter receptor itself appears to be the target of the disease process. Many neuroactive drugs act by modifying neurotransmitter receptors. A better understanding of neurotransmitter receptor changes in disease may lead to improvements in therapy.

MCE designs a unique collection of 1,877 compounds targeting a variety of neurotransmitter receptors. MCE Neurotransmitter Receptor Compound Library is a useful tool for neurological diseases drug discovery.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) contributes to the production and folding of approximately one third of cellular proteins, and is thus inextricably linked to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and the fine balance between health and disease. However, some adverse factors negatively impact ER functions and protein synthesis, resulting in the activation of Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress, ERS) and unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling pathways. The UPR is triggered when ER protein folding capacity is overwhelmed by cellular demand and the UPR initially aims to restore ER homeostasis and normal cellular functions. However, if this fails, then the UPR triggers cell death. Chronic ER stress and defects in UPR signaling are emerging as key contributors to a growing list of human diseases, including diabetes, neurodegeneration and cancer.

MCE Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Compound Library contains 223 ER stress-related compounds that mainly target PERK, IRE1, ATF6, etc. MCE ER stress library is a useful tool for researching ER stress and related diseases.

Covalent inhibitors are small molecules that can bind specifically to target proteins through covalent bonds and inhibit their biological functions. Although for a long time, covalent targeting has been playing a subordinate role in drug discovery, with an increasing number of reports on successful clinical applications of such drugs, the potential of these agents is now being acknowledged. Currently, cysteine is the most common covalent amino acid residue in a variety of covalent drugs, and various warheads have been developed that can react with cysteine, providing the key building blocks for covalent drugs to form covalent bonds.

To meet the development needs of covalent inhibitors targeting cysteine, MCE has designed a unique collection of 4,819 compounds with different covalent warheads that target cysteine. The MCE Cysteine Targeted Covalent Library is designed using the following covalent warheads: Acrylamides, Propiolic acid ester, Dimethylamine functionalized acrylamides, Chloroacetamides, Acrylonitrile, 2-Cyanoacrylamide, Aziridine, Haloacetamide, etc.

Copper is an important co-factor of all biological enzymes, but if the concentration exceeds the threshold of maintaining the homeostasis mechanism, copper will lead to cytotoxicity. This death mechanism has been named "Cuproptosis".

The mechanism of cuproptosis distinct from all other known mechanisms of regulated cell death, including apoptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, and ferroptosis.

Copper combine with the lipoylated components of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), leading to lipoylated protein aggregation and subsequent loss of iron-sulfur cluster proteins, ultimately resulting in protein toxicity stress and cell death. Studies have shown that the necessary factors for cuproptosis include the presence of glutathione, mitochondrial metabolism of galactose and pyruvate, and glutamine metabolism.

Targeted regulation of cuproptosis is a potential choice to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and other diseases. For example, up-regulation of LIPT1 may inhibit the occurrence and development of tumors by destroying TCA in mitochondria and then inducing cuproptosis.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 206 cuproptosis-related compounds, all of which act on the targets or signaling pathways related to cuproptosis and may have in inhibitory or activated effect on cuproptosis. MCE Cuproptosis Library is a useful tool for drug research related to cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and other diseases.

Bioactive compounds are a general term for a class of substances that can cause certain biological effects in the body, which are the main source of small molecule drugs. These compounds generally penetrate cell membranes, act on specific target proteins in cells, regulate intracellular signaling pathways, and cause some changes in cell phenotype.

MCE owns a unique collection of 19,569 compounds with confirmed biological activities and clear targets. These compounds include natural products, innovative compounds, approved compounds, and clinical compounds. These can also be used for signal pathway research, drug discovery and drug repurposing, etc.

Covalent inhibitors are small molecules that can bind specifically to target proteins through covalent bonds and inhibit their biological functions. Although for a long time, covalent targeting has been playing a subordinate role in drug discovery, with an increasing number of reports on successful clinical applications of such drugs, the potential of these agents is now being acknowledged. Currently, cysteine is the most common covalent amino acid residue in a variety of covalent drugs, and various warheads have been developed that can react with cysteine, providing the key building blocks for covalent drugs to form covalent bonds.

To meet the development needs of covalent inhibitors targeting cysteine, MCE has designed a unique collection of 3,371 fragments with different covalent warheads that target cysteine. The MCE Cysteine Targeted Covalent Fragment Library is designed using the following covalent warheads: Acrylamides, Propiolic acid ester, Dimethylamine functionalized acrylamides, Chloroacetamides, Acrylonitrile, 2-Cyanoacrylamide, Aziridine, Haloacetamide, etc. All fragments are pre-filtered with the Rule of Three restrictions which can be used for fragment-based covalent drug development.

Lung cancer is a major global health problem, as it is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Lung cancer is divided into two categories: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for about 85 percent of lung cancers.

As with all cancers, lung cancer may be treated with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy or a combination thereof. Targeted therapy is one of the most exciting developments in lung cancer medicine, especially for NSCLC. Extensive genomic characterization of NSCLC has led to the identification of molecular subtypes of NSCLC that are oncogene addicted and exquisitely sensitive to targeted therapies. These include activating mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and BRAF or echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusions and ROS1 receptor tyrosine kinase fusions. These are important targets for target therapy.

MCE offers a unique collection of 1,909 compounds with identified and potential anti-lung cancer activity. These compounds target lung cancer’s major targets and signaling pathways. MCE anti-lung cancer compound library is a useful tool for anti-lung cancer drugs screening and other related research.

The high rates of morbidity and mortality caused by fungal infections are associated with the current limited antifungal arsenal and the high toxicity of the compounds. Additionally, identifying novel drug targets is challenging because there are many similarities between fungal and human cells. The most common antifungal targets include fungal RNA synthesis and cell wall and membrane components, though new antifungal targets are being investigated. Nonetheless, fungi have developed resistance mechanisms, such as overexpression of efflux pump proteins, overexpression and changes in drug targets and biofilm formation, emphasizing the importance of discovering new antifungal drugs and therapies. Due to the limited antifungal arsenal, researchers have sought to improve treatment via different approaches, such as the combination of antifungal drugs, development of new formulations for antifungal agents and modifications to the chemical structures of traditional antifungals, etc.

MCE offers a unique collection of 380 compounds with validated antifungal activities. MCE antifungal compound library is an effective tool for drug repurposing screening, combination screening and biological investigation.

Pain is a kind of distressing feeling caused by the stimulation of tissue damage. According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is defined as ”An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”.

Pain is usually classified according to its location, duration, underlying causes, and intensity. For example, acute and chronic pain, muscle pain, and nerve pain. Pain is the main symptom of most diseases, which seriously affects the quality of life and body function of patients. In the medical treatment of pain, anti-inflammatory drugs and opioid analgesic agents have traditionally been used, but the side effects are serious. In recent years, targeted drugs targeting the ERK/MAPK pathway or other targets have gradually become a research hotspot.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 2,012 compounds targeting key proteins in the pain system. MCE Pain-Related Compound Library is a useful tool for pain related research and anti-pain drug development.

An emerging drug design method is based on the secondary binding site effect, where small molecule drugs are designed to bind to secondary binding sites on target biomolecules rather than primary orthomorphic sites. Successful potential drugs (known as allosteric modulators) will be able to bind to allosteric sites and remotely alter (or modify) the conformation of the main orthosteric binding sites of biological targets. Allosteric modulators (AMs) are ligands of proteins that act through binding sites different from natural (orthosteric) ligand sites. AMs are relatively small, more lipophilic, and more rigid compounds. The binding efficacy of AMs with their targets is often slightly lower. AMs are divided into positive AMs (PAMs) and negative AMs (NAMs). AMs are ideal drug targets because they can fine-tune receptor activity while preserving the spatial and temporal signal transduction characteristics of endogenous ligands, resulting in fewer targeted side effects, improved subtype selectivity, and better promotion of biased signal transduction than normal ligands.

MCE designs a unique collection of 183 small allosteric modulators. It is a good tool to be used for research on metabolize, cancer and other diseases.

Recently, significant advancements in tyrosine-targeting electrophiles have primarily occurred in the field of protein-protein interactions (PPIs), where cysteine residues are often underrepresented and novel chemistries are needed to address these interfaces. In this context, tyrosines are frequently more accessible compared to more buried binding sites. Moreover, they are commonly found at "hot spots," which are functional epitopes of PPIs, with 12.3% of the residues consisting of tyrosines. This prevalence is likely due to the hydrophobic nature of tyrosine, its ability to participate in aromatic π-interactions, and its capacity for hydrogen bonding. Beyond PPIs, some progress has also been made in covalent tyrosine targeting in other areas where more commonly addressed side chains are lacking. Even though tyrosine has a slightly lower pKa value compared to the protonated lysine side chain (approximately 10 vs. 10.5 for the unprotected amino acid side chains), significantly less progress has been made in the development of tyrosine-targeted covalent ligands compared to lysine. This is likely due to the reduced flexibility of the tyrosine side chain and the greater steric hindrance of its hydroxy group, which makes it more challenging to adopt suitable reaction geometries.

Through careful selection, we constructed a structural filter containing over 110 electrophilic groups. By analyzing the electrophilic fragments selected by the structural filter, we removed any molecules with trivial or undesirable structural features. Ultimately, we obtained 124 fragment molecules which can target tyrosine residue and can be used for fragment-based covalent drug discovery.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a hepatotropic enveloped positive- strand RNA virus (family Flaviviridae) that infects the parenchymal cells of the liver. HCV infection is a significant public health burden. Globally, an estimated 71 million people have chronic hepatitis C virus infection. A significant number of those who are chronically infected will develop cirrhosis or liver cancer. To date, there is no vaccine against HCV, and combination pegylated alpha interferon (pIFN-) and ribavirin, the main standard-of-care treatment for HCV, is effective in only a subset of patients and is associated with a wide spectrum of toxic side effects and complications. More recently, new therapeutic approaches that target essential components of the HCV life cycle have been developed, including direct-acting antiviral (DAA) that specifically block a viral enzyme or functional protein and host-targeted agents (HTA) that block interactions between host proteins and viral components that are essential to the viral life cycle. However, the genetic diversity of HCV viruses and the stage of liver disease (i.e., cirrhosis) are revealing themselves as obstacles for effective, pan-genotypic treatments. There still exists a need for the discovery and development of new HCV inhibitors. In particular, since the future of HCV therapy will likely consist of a cocktail approach using multiple inhibitors that target different steps of infection, new antivirals targeting all steps of the viral infection cycle.

MCE offers a unique collection of 295 compounds with identified and potential anti-HCV activity. MCE Anti- Hepatitis C Virus Compound Library is a useful tool for discovery new anti-HCV drugs and other anti-infection research.

Cyclic peptides are polypeptide chains taking cyclic ring structure, which exhibit diverse biological activities, such as antibacterial activity, immunosuppressive activity and anti-tumor activity. Cyclic peptides, with the features of good binding affinity, target selectivity and low toxicity, show great success as therapeutics. Multiple cyclic peptides are currently in clinical use, for examples, gramicidin and tyrocidine with bactericidal activity, cyclosporin A with immunosuppressive activity, and vancomycin with antibacterial activity. Furthermore, cyclic peptides usually have the sufficient size and a balanced conformational flexibility/rigidity for binding to flat protein-protein interaction (PPI) interfaces, which have potential to develop PPI drugs.

MCE offers a unique collection of 90 cyclic peptides, all of which have good bioactivities. MCE Cyclic Peptide Library is a powerful tool for drug discovery and PPI inhibitor screening.

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with a low overall survival rate. Chemotherapy is the most common treatment for patients presenting with advanced pancreatic cancer. More recently, the era of targeted therapies has generated a lot of interest in discovering better approaches for patients with pancreatic cancer. Commonly mutated genes in pancreatic cancer include K-ras (in 74-100% of cases), p16INK4a (up to 98%), p53 (43 to 76%), DPC4 (about 50%), HER-2/neu (in about 65%) and FHIT (found in 70% of cases). Other genes involved are notch1, Akt-2, BRCA2 and COX-2. These proteins are important targets of target therapies for pancreatic cancer.

MCE offers a unique collection of 2,776 compounds with identified and potential anti- pancreatic cancer activity. These compounds target K-Ras, p53, HER2, Notch, AKT, etc. MCE anti-pancreatic cancer compound library is a useful tool for anti-pancreatic cancer drugs screening and other related research.

Nuclear receptors (NR) are proteins found in cells that sense androgen and thyroid hormones and certain other molecules. They are ligand-activated transcription factors that participate in many aspects of human physiology and pathology, and regulate the expression of various important genes.

Nuclear receptors have become one of the main targets in the development of new drug strategies, providing a unique type of receptors for studying a variety of human diseases, such as breast cancers, skin disorders and diabetes. 13% of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs target nuclear receptors.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 669 nuclear receptor inhibitors and activators, all of which have the identified inhibitory or activated effect on nuclear receptor. MCE Nuclear Receptor Library is a useful tool for drugs research related to cancer, skin disease and diabetes.

MCE Anti-c-Myc Affinity Gel can be used for the detection and purification of c-Myc fusion expressed proteins, and immunoprecipitation (IP) experiments to detect the expression of recombinant proteins in target cells.

MCE Anti-HA Affinity Gel can be employed for the detection and purification of HA fusion expressed proteins, and can also be used in immunoprecipitation (IP) experiments to detect the expression of recombinant proteins in target cells.