AUTHOR=Melancon Kortney , Pliushcheuskaya Palina , Meiler Jens , Künze Georg TITLE=Targeting ion channels with ultra-large library screening for hit discovery JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience VOLUME=16 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2023.1336004 DOI=10.3389/fnmol.2023.1336004 ISSN=1662-5099 ABSTRACT=

Ion channels play a crucial role in a variety of physiological and pathological processes, making them attractive targets for drug development in diseases such as diabetes, epilepsy, hypertension, cancer, and chronic pain. Despite the importance of ion channels in drug discovery, the vastness of chemical space and the complexity of ion channels pose significant challenges for identifying drug candidates. The use of in silico methods in drug discovery has dramatically reduced the time and cost of drug development and has the potential to revolutionize the field of medicine. Recent advances in computer hardware and software have enabled the screening of ultra-large compound libraries. Integration of different methods at various scales and dimensions is becoming an inevitable trend in drug development. In this review, we provide an overview of current state-of-the-art computational chemistry methodologies for ultra-large compound library screening and their application to ion channel drug discovery research. We discuss the advantages and limitations of various in silico techniques, including virtual screening, molecular mechanics/dynamics simulations, and machine learning-based approaches. We also highlight several successful applications of computational chemistry methodologies in ion channel drug discovery and provide insights into future directions and challenges in this field.