Genetic

Transcription is the essential first step in the conversion of the genetic information in the DNA into protein and the major point at which gene expression is controlled. Transcription of protein-coding genes is accomplished by the multi-subunit enzyme RNA polymerase II and an ensemble of ancillary proteins, called transcription factors (TFs). Transcription factors play an important role in the long-term regulation of cell growth, differentiation and responses to environmental cues. Deregulated transcription factors contribute to the pathogenesis of a plethora of human diseases, ranging from diabetes, inflammatory disorders and cardiovascular disease to many cancers, and thus these proteins hold great therapeutic potential.

MCE offers a unique collection of 2,569 compounds with validated transcription factor targets modulating properties. MCE transcription factor-targeted compound library is an effective tool for researching transcription factors as drug targets as well as modulation of TFs for different therapeutic applications.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a autoimmune disease characterized by persistent joint inflammation. The pathology of RA includes immune cell infiltration, synovial lining proliferation, pannus formation, and the destruction of joint cartilage and bone, which is highly disabling. Due to long-term chronic inflammation, RA not only severely affects the quality of life of patients but can also damage multiple organs, leading to lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and malignant tumors. The pathogenesis of RA is complex, involving genetic, environmental, and immune factors. With the advancement of high-throughput screening technology, screening for compounds targeting JAK, CCR, MEK, MMP targets may contribute to the development of more effective drugs against Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

MCE has collected 2,023 small molecule compounds with definite or potential anti-rheumatoid arthritis activity. This library is of significant value for researching the anti-RA drugs.

Rare diseases are an important public-health issue and a challenge for the medical community. Most rare diseases are genetic disorders, which are often severely disabling, substantially affect life expectancy, and impair physical and mental abilities. Currently, there are about 7,000 identified rare diseases, together affecting 10% of the population. However, fewer than 6% of all rare diseases have an approved treatment option, highlighting their tremendous unmet needs in drug development. The process of repurposing drugs for new indications, compared with the development of novel orphan drugs, is a time-saving and cost-efficient method resulting in higher success rates, which can therefore drastically reduce the risk of drug development for rare diseases.

MCE carefully collects a unique of 1,900 compounds studied in preclinical, clinical trials or approved used in rare diseases treatment. MCE rare diseases drug library is a useful tool for the research of rare diseases. All compounds can provide corresponding indications for rare diseases.

Resistance refers to the decrease in the effectiveness of drugs in treating diseases or symptoms. Due to the increasing global antibiotic resistance, it may threaten our ability to treat common infectious diseases. Drug resistance is also the main cause of chemotherapy failure in malignant tumors. In approximately 50% of cases, drug resistance exists even before chemotherapy begins. There are many mechanisms of anticancer drug resistance, including increased protein expression that leads to drug removal, mutations in drug binding sites, recovery of tumor protein production, and pre-existing genetic heterogeneity in tumor cell populations. In addition, the issue of drug resistance seems to have affected the development of new anticancer drugs. Drug resistance may be caused by various conditions, such as mutations, epigenetic modifications, and upregulation of drug efflux protein expression. Overcoming multidrug resistance in cancer treatment is becoming increasingly important.

MCE designs a unique collection of 706 anti-drug-resistant compounds. It is a good tool to be used for research on cancer and other diseases.

Research has shown that drugs targeting aging pathways demonstrate promising potential in models of age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, osteoarthritis, and various malignancies. This suggests that intervening in the biological processes of aging may enable synergistic prevention and treatment of multiple chronic diseases. Against the backdrop of the gradual elucidation of core aging mechanisms-including cellular senescence, telomere attrition, epigenetic dysregulation, and chronic inflammation anti-aging research has shifted from traditional phenotypic interventions toward targeting key pathways that regulate biological age.

The MCE Anti-Aging Compound Library Mini is precisely built upon this cutting-edge concept. It focuses on aging-related targets validated through genetic or functional studies, comprising 381 compounds designed to provide systematic research tools for aging biology and intervention strategy development. The library covers core mechanisms such as mTOR, SIRT, energy metabolism, clearance of senescent cells, optimization of mitochondrial function, and telomere maintenance. For each target, 1-5 compounds with clear activity and strong representativeness have been carefully selected, spanning the entire translational spectrum from preclinical tool molecules to clinically investigational drugs.

Techniques for reprogramming somatic cells create new opportunities for drug screening, disease modeling, artificial organ development, and cell therapy. The development of reprogramming techniques has grown exponentially since Yamanaka reprogrammed somatic cells to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) using four transcription factors, OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC in 2006. Despite the development of efficient reprogramming methods, most methods are inappropriate for clinical applications because they carry the risk of integrating exogenous genetic factors or use oncogenes. Alternative approaches, such as those based on miRNA, non-viral genes, non-integrative vectors, and small molecules, have been studied as possible solutions to the problems. Among these alternatives, small molecules are attractive options for clinical applications. Reprogramming using small molecules is inexpensive and easy to control in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. It offers a high level of cell permeability, ease of synthesis and standardization, and it is appropriate for mass-producing cells.

MCE Reprogramming Compound Library contains a unique collection of 3,231 compounds that act on reprogramming signaling pathways. These compounds are potential stimulators for reprogramming. This library is a useful tool for researching reprogramming and regenerative medicine.

RNA is crucial for the regulation of numerous cellular processes and functions. With the in-depth study of disease mechanisms, processes such as RNA expression, splicing, translation, and stability regulation have become new targets for disease intervention. RNA has provided new therapeutic modalities for metabolic diseases, genetic disorders, and cancer patients, resulting in several innovative drugs.

MCE R&D team collected small molecules targeting RNA from the PDB, R-BIND, ROBIN, and internal database as the positive dataset, and non-targeting RNA small molecules from ROBIN as the negative dataset. Based on the GeminiMol pre-trained model, we encoded the molecules and calculated over 1700 molecular descriptors using Mordred as inputs for the model. Subsequently, we employed 13 deep learning models to learn from the data. All of which yielded good training results, with AUROCs greater than 0.75. Ultimately, we selected the Finetune model to screen HY-L901P, which exhibited the best classification performance, achieving an AUROC of 0.82 and a prediction accuracy of 0.76. We then applied filtering based on StaR rules (with at least two of the following properties: cLogP ≥ 1.5, Molar Refractivity ≥ 4, Relative Polar Surface Area ≤ 0.3) to obtain a library containing approximately 5,000 small molecule compounds targeting RNA. This library serves as a valuable tool for screening small molecules that interact with RNA.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a hepatotropic enveloped positive- strand RNA virus (family Flaviviridae) that infects the parenchymal cells of the liver. HCV infection is a significant public health burden. Globally, an estimated 71 million people have chronic hepatitis C virus infection. A significant number of those who are chronically infected will develop cirrhosis or liver cancer. To date, there is no vaccine against HCV, and combination pegylated alpha interferon (pIFN-) and ribavirin, the main standard-of-care treatment for HCV, is effective in only a subset of patients and is associated with a wide spectrum of toxic side effects and complications. More recently, new therapeutic approaches that target essential components of the HCV life cycle have been developed, including direct-acting antiviral (DAA) that specifically block a viral enzyme or functional protein and host-targeted agents (HTA) that block interactions between host proteins and viral components that are essential to the viral life cycle. However, the genetic diversity of HCV viruses and the stage of liver disease (i.e., cirrhosis) are revealing themselves as obstacles for effective, pan-genotypic treatments. There still exists a need for the discovery and development of new HCV inhibitors. In particular, since the future of HCV therapy will likely consist of a cocktail approach using multiple inhibitors that target different steps of infection, new antivirals targeting all steps of the viral infection cycle.

MCE offers a unique collection of 394 compounds with identified and potential anti-HCV activity. MCE Anti- Hepatitis C Virus Compound Library is a useful tool for discovery new anti-HCV drugs and other anti-infection research.