2021/06/13 by Michael A. Kochen, Kochen, Michael A., Steven S. Andrews +7
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Medicine · #Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks #Computational Drug Discovery Methods #FOS: Biological sciences #Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis #Molecular Networks (q-bio.MN) #Subcellular Processes (q-bio.SC)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2106.06929
openalex publication_date 2021/06/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Signaling pathways serve to communicate information about extracellular conditions into the cell, to both the nucleus and cytoplasmic processes to control cell responses. Genetic mutations in signaling network components are frequently associated with cancer and can result in cells acquiring an ability to divide and grow uncontrollably. Because signaling pathways play such a significant role in cancer initiation and advancement, their constituent proteins are attractive therapeutic targets. In this review, we discuss how signaling pathway modeling can assist with identifying effective drugs for treating diseases, such as cancer. An achievement that would facilitate the use of such models is their ability to identify controlling biochemical parameters in signaling pathways, such as molecular abundances and chemical reaction rates, because this would help determine effective points of attack by therapeutics.