Autophagy-Targeted Library

Autophagy Targeted Library

ChemDiv’s Autophagy Targeted Library contains 4,550 compounds.

Autophagy is a cellular process involving the degradation and recycling of cellular components that plays an essential role in maintaining cellular homeostasis and responding to cellular stress. This process provides the removal of damaged organelles, misfolded proteins, and pathogens, thus contributing to cellular health and function. Dysregulation of autophagy typically contributes to the development of various diseases. In cancer, autophagy can have a dual role: it can suppress tumor initiation by removing damaged organelles and proteins, but in developed tumors, it may promote cancer cell survival under stress conditions. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are also associated with impaired autophagy, leading to the accumulation of toxic protein aggregates. Therefore, targeting autophagic pathways has emerged as a promising strategy in drug discovery, aiming to restore or modulate autophagy in diseases like cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and infections.

Similarly, in infectious diseases, autophagy up-regulation can eliminate intracellular pathogens, bolstering the body's defense, but strategic down-regulation may be necessary in cases where pathogens exploit autophagic machinery for their survival. In the cardiovascular disease area, particularly concerning coronary heart disease, autophagy plays a dual role; its up-regulation can aid in removing damaged post-ischemic cellular components, thereby protecting cardiac cells, but controlled down-regulation may be necessary to prevent excessive autophagic cell death during reperfusion. Therefore, both the enhancement and inhibition of autophagy present therapeutic opportunities in the treatment and management of cancer, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases, and cardiac ischemia.

Target space of the autophagy targeted library covers ROS, VPS34, Mitophagy, AMPK, mTORC1, MAPK, BCEN1 and others.