surface

Chemokines, or chemotactic cytokines, are small cytokines or signaling proteins secreted by cells. They are a component of intercellular communication, controlling the directional movement of immune cells especially leukocytes, as well as other cell types, for instance, endothelial and epithelial cells, which are essential to maintain human health and the function of the immune system.

The biological effects of chemokines are achieved by binding to chemokine receptors, which are G protein-coupled receptors found on the surface of leukocytes. Some chemokine receptors are involved in directing tumor metastasis and over-expression by certain tumors. So inhibiting the interaction between chemokine and chemokine receptors on the surface of tumor cells may be a new possible therapeutic approach. Some chemokine receptors are coreceptors for HIV entry, and related inhibitors have been approved by the FDA to treat patients with HIV. Obviously, chemokines and chemokine receptors have become new targets for studying cancer, HIV, inflammation, and other diseases.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 149 chemokine or chemokine receptor inhibitors and activators, all of which have the identified inhibitory or activated effect on chemokine or chemokine receptors. MCE Chemokine Library is a useful tool for drug research related to cancer, AIDS, and wound therapy.

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 2,349 small molecules targeting GPCRs that can be used in the screening for various GPCRs-related research and drug development projects.

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 4,734 compounds targeting a variety of membrane receptors. MCE Membrane reeptor-targeted Compound Library can be used for membrane receptor-focused screening and drug discovery.

Autoimmune disease is a pathological disease characterized by inflammatory disorders targeting autoantigens. The routine treatment of autoimmune diseases suppresses general immune function to regulate uncontrolled inflammation. The current targeted immunotherapy suppresses the main pro-inflammatory signaling pathways by blocking inflammatory cytokines, cell surface molecules, and intracellular kinases. As key participants in innate immunity, macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) are crucial for Ag presentation and pro-inflammatory cytokine production, such as TNF and IL-1 β、 IL-6, IL-23, B cell activating factor (BAFF), and the proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL, also known as TNFSF13A).

MCE designs a unique collection of 461 autoimmune disease-related compounds, covering multiple targets and subtypes, such as TNF Receptor, IFNAR, JAK, Btk, TLR, IL-6, IL-17, IL-23, etc. It is a useful tool for screening autoimmune disease drugs.

A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. Parasites of humans include protozoans, helminths, and ecto-parasites (organisms that live on the external surface of a host). They are responsible for many diseases and are transmitted to their hosts most often through the ingestion of contaminated food, water or through the bite of an arthropod (e.g., a fly or tick), which can act as an intermediate host and as a vector. Parasitic diseases of humans are a major global health problem causing significant morbidity and mortality, especially in developing countries. Each year there are hundreds of millions of people infected with disease-causing parasites, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, resulting in an estimated one million deaths. Therefore, there is a dire need of novel anti-parasitic drugs.

MCE has a unique collection of 461 compounds with validated anti-parasitic activity which offer researchers an opportunity to screen novel anti-parasitic targets.

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 1,291 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.

Oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface and host a huge species diversity. Marine organisms are considered the most recent source of bioactive natural products after terrestrial plants and nonmarine microorganisms. Marine biological sources are taxonomically diverse and include sponges, tunicates, corals, mollusks, fungi, and sediment-derived bacteria.

Marine organisms can produce a plethora of small molecules with novel chemical structures and potent biological properties, being a rich source for the discovery of pharmacologically active compounds, already with several marine-derived agents approved as drugs. Ziconotide, a peptide originally discovered in a tropical cone snail, was the first marine-derived compound to be approved in the United States in December 2004 for the treatment of pain. Then, in October 2007, Trabectedin became the first marine anticancer drug to be approved in the European Union.

MCE offers a unique collection of 40 marine-sourced natural products which can be used for drug discovery for high throughput screening (HTS) and high content screening (HCS). MCE marine-sourced natural product library is an important source for drug discovery and development.

MCE Carboxyl Magnetic beads (200 nm, 10 mg/mL) are characterized by superparamagnetism, fast magnetic response, abundant carboxyl functional groups, monodispersity, and submicron scale particle size. Biological ligands (proteins, peptides, oligonucleotides, drug molecules, etc.) can be covalently coupled to the surface of microspheres under the action of special chemical reagents (such as EDC).