PCL102H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Cytochrome P450, Pancreatic Lipase Family, Orlistat
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Intro: drugs can be used to turn proteins on or off. Drugs bing to one specific protein and modify its action. Some drugs can kill a bacterial or cancer cell by disabling a critical protein. Others block less-critical proteins for a few hours. Anticancer chemotherapy: many drugs used for chemotherapy attack all growing cells (cancer and normal, this leads to severe side effects because the drugs attack rapidly-growing cells in hair follicles and the stomach. Molecular mimics: most drugs mimic the molecules that are normally processed by an enzyme or receptor protein. They bind tightly to the protein and block the site that usually performs the task. Suicide inhibitors: some drugs form a chemical bond to the protein target, disabling it. Our current antidepressants increase the levels of one or more of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, or norepinephrine, just like the early tricyclic antidepressants.