Yes SIR! On the structure-inactivity relationships in drug discovery

Drug Discov Today. 2022 Aug;27(8):2353-2362. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2022.05.005. Epub 2022 May 11.

Abstract

In analogy with structure-activity relationships (SARs), which are at the core of medicinal chemistry, studying structure-inactivity relationships (SIRs) is essential to understanding and predicting biological activity. Current computational methods should predict or distinguish 'activity' and 'inactivity' with the same confidence because both concepts are complementary. However, the lack of inactivity data, in particular in the public domain, limits the development of predictive models and its broad application. In this review, we encourage the scientific community to disclose and analyze high-confidence activity data considering both the labeled 'active' and 'inactive' compounds.

Keywords: Chemoinformatics; Data mining; Database; Negative data; Open science; QSPR.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chemistry, Pharmaceutical
  • Drug Discovery*
  • Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship*