Rational design of proteins?

[Jack H. Pincus]

In article <791506833snz at pdchem.demon.co.uk>, Paul at pdchem.demon.co.uk 
says...
>
>Hello,
>
>What do people feel is the current status of protein engineering
>and rational design based on analysis of structure and function
>of natural proteins?  I would like to read about recent successes.
>
>-Paul
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>Paul Davis                                   paul at pdchem.demon.co.uk

Rationale design is still a work in porgress and a goal to be achieved.  
Methods used in rationale design are helpful in designing drugs, but it 
is still not possible to design a drug from scratch.

Several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are using rationale 
drug design with varying results.  Merck claims knowledge of HIV 
protease structure was not that helpful.  Vertex used it to try to reduce 
the toxicity of an anti-rejection drug developed by Fujisawa 
pharmaceutical with limited success.

Rationale drug design appears to be most useful in reducing some of the 
hit and miss in drug development.  As we learn more about protein 
structure-function, it may be possible to approach the goal of designing 
a drug from scratch.

Jack H. Pincus
jhpincus at cris.com