Development of inhibitors for protein tyrosine kinases.

In the last 5 years, through combinatorial chemistry, high-throughput screening, computational chemistry, and traditional medicinal chemistry, numerous inhibitors for various protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) have been developed. The majority of these compounds are small molecules that compete at the ATP binding site of the catalytic domain of the enzymes. Some compounds such as pseudosubstrate-based peptide inhibitor binds to the peptide/protein substrate site of the catalytic domain. Some inhibitors, primarily monoclonal antibodies, bind to the extracellular domain of receptor tyrosine kinases. Some of these inhibitors are highly potent and selective. Several are currently undergoing clinical trials for a number of diseases such as cancer.