pathogens

The immune system is a host defense system comprising many biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease. To function properly, an immune system must detect a wide variety of agents, known as pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, and distinguish them from the organism's own healthy tissue. Inflammation is also the body's attempt at self-protection to remove harmful stimuli and begin the healing process. It’s part of the body's immune response. The immune system recognizes damaged cells, irritants, and pathogens, and inflammation begins the healing process. Inflammatory abnormalities are a large group of disorders that underlie a vast variety of human diseases. The immune system is often involved with inflammatory disorders, demonstrated in both allergic reactions and some myopathies, with many immune system disorders resulting in abnormal inflammation.

MCE designs a unique collection of 7,742 compounds that are useful tool for Immunology/Inflammation research or autoimmune inflammatory diseases drug discovery.

Inflammasomes are classic pattern recognition receptors for natural immune responses. Inflammasomes are polymeric protein complexes that regulate inflammatory responses and pyrolytic cell death, thereby exerting the host's defense against microorganisms. Inflammasomes sensors are associated with adapter proteins, activating inflammatory caspase-1, releasing inflammatory cytokines and inducing cell death, endowing the host with defense against pathogens. NLRP1, NLRP3, NLRC4, AIM2, and pyrin are considered typical inflammasomes because they convert cysteine asparaginase-1 into catalytically active capsaicin-1. In addition to infectious diseases, the importance of inflammasomes is also related to various clinical diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, neurodegeneration and metabolic disorders, and the development of cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly regulate the activation and function of inflammasomes to avoid accidental host tissue damage while inducing pathogens to kill the inflammatory response.

MCE designs a unique collection of 161 inflammasomes related compounds. It is a good tool to be used for research on Inflammation, cancer and other diseases.

Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) are a crucial class of protein molecules expressed in cells of the innate immune system. The core function of Pattern Recognition Receptors is to recognize Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs) and Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMPs). Upon recognizing and binding to PAMPs or DAMPs, PRRs rapidly initiate intracellular signaling pathways (such as the NF-κB, IRF, and inflammasome pathways). This triggers the production of inflammatory factors, chemokines, and type I interferons, thereby initiating inflammatory responses to eliminate pathogens or repair damage. PRRs represent the body's first line of defense against infection, and the rapidity and broad specificity of their response are crucial for host survival. However, aberrant activation of PRR signaling is also a cause of many chronic inflammatory diseases, autoimmune disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, precisely regulating PRR activity has become a key therapeutic strategy for these conditions.

MCE has cataloged 311 inhibitors targeting key PRRs, such as NLRs, TLRs, C-type Lectin Receptors (CLRs), and cGAS, to support drug discovery efforts for chronic inflammatory diseases.

Cysteine proteases (CPs), a key enzyme family regulating physiological metabolism and mediating pathological processes (e.g., abnormal bone resorption, tumour invasion, and pathogen infection), represent a core therapeutic target for disease intervention via the development of specific inhibitors. Currently reported CP covalent inhibitors encompass diverse structural types, including epoxides, aziridine, and activated double bonds (vinyl sulphones, α,β-unsaturated ketones), providing clear structural references for the development of novel CP covalent inhibitors.

This compound library contains multiple warheads that specifically target cysteine proteases, serving as a powerful tool for the efficient discovery of novel covalent inhibitors against this enzyme family.

Programmed cell death pathways, including apoptosis, pyroptosis and necroptosis, are regulated by unique sets of host proteins that coordinate a variety of biological outcomes. Pyroptosis is a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death that occurs most frequently upon infection with intracellular pathogens and is likely to form part of the antimicrobial response. This process promotes the rapid clearance of various bacterial, viral, fungal and protozoan infections by removing intracellular replication niches and enhancing the host's defensive responses. Pyroptosis has been widely studied in inflammatory and infection disease models. Recently, there are growing evidences that pyroptosis also plays an important role in the development of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and Metabolic disorder, etc.

MCE designs a unique collection of 1,866 pyroptosis-related compounds mainly focusing on the key targets in the pyroptosis signaling pathway and can be used in the research of pyroptosis signal pathway and related diseases.

Cysteine proteases (CPs), a key enzyme family regulating physiological metabolism and mediating pathological processes (such as abnormal bone resorption, tumour invasion, and pathogen infection), represent a core therapeutic target for developing specific inhibitors in disease intervention. Currently reported CP inhibitors primarily achieve their inhibitory function by precisely binding to CP active pockets (e.g., S1-S4 non-primed regions or S1'-S2' primed regions) and forming covalent/non-covalent interactions with the active site cysteine residues, providing clear structural references for the development of novel inhibitors.

This compound library, designed based on the core strategy of "similarity-based known active structures", contains over 200 cysteine protease inhibitors. Leveraging AI-driven molecular screening technology, it retains the critical pharmacological and shape features of reported CP inhibitors, serving as a specialized tool for efficiently discovering novel cysteine protease inhibitors.

Macrophages are effector cells of the innate immune system, engulfing bacteria and secreting pro-inflammatory and antibacterial mediators. They are an important component of the first line defense against pathogens and tumor cells. In addition, macrophages play an important role in eliminating damaged cells through programmed cell death. Like all immune cells, macrophages originate from pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow. Macrophages play key functions in many physiological processes beyond homeostasis and innate immunity, including metabolic function, cell debris clearance, tissue repair, and remodeling. In order to fulfill their different functional roles, macrophages can polarize into a series of phenotypes, including classic (pro inflammatory, M1) and alternative (anti-inflammatory, healing promoting, M2) activation states, as well as a wide range of regulatory phenotypes and subtypes. Macrophages exist in all vertebrate tissues and have a dual function in host protection and tissue damage, maintaining a good balance.

MCE designs a unique collection of 263 macrophage related compounds. It is a good tool to be used for research on Inflammation, cancer and other diseases.

Owing to the widespread transmission and frequent mutation of viral diseases, as well as the continuous emergence of new viruses and drug-resistant strains, antiviral drug development is facing increasingly stringent requirements. Antiviral compound libraries serve as important tools for drug screening, mechanism research and development, enabling the discovery and investigation of various antiviral drugs.

These compounds act through diverse antiviral mechanisms, targeting key steps in viral replication, assembly and invasion. They exert antiviral effects by inhibiting viral nucleic acid synthesis, blocking viral protein processing, and preventing viral binding to host cells. This library covers various types of antiviral compounds, including nucleosides, non-nucleosides, protease inhibitors and integrase inhibitors. It supports research on influenza virus, herpes virus, hepatitis virus, emerging respiratory viruses and other pathogens, and enables high-throughput screening of novel antiviral candidates to rapidly identify potential active compounds against diverse viruses. It also facilitates mechanistic studies to elucidate drug-target interactions and viral resistance mechanisms, and supports the screening of effective compounds against mutant strains for research on viral variation and drug resistance.

This antiviral library consists of 6,804 compounds with lead-like physicochemical properties. The core sources of the compounds include analogs of known antiviral molecues with a similarity score ≥ 0.6. MCE has collected more than 1450 antiviral molecules. As a small-molecule collection with both activity potential and structural modifiability, it provides strong support for antiviral drug research and development.