Research Group 'Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy', UCL School of Pharmacy, University of London, 29-39 Brunswick Sq., London WC1N 1AX, UK.
Graduate Institute of Integrated Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, and Chinese Medicine Research Center, China Medical University, No. 100, Section 1, Jingmao Road, Beitun District, Taichung 406040, Taiwan.
Molecules. 2021 Mar 25;26(7):1836. doi: 10.3390/molecules26071836.
Selecting candidates for drug developments using computational design and empirical rules has resulted in a broad discussion about their success. In a previous study, we had shown that a species' abundance [as expressed by the GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility)] dataset is a core determinant for the development of a natural product into a medicine. Our overarching aim is to understand the unique requirements for natural product-based drug development. Web of Science was queried for research on alkaloids in combination with plant systematics/taxonomy. All alkaloids containing species demonstrated an average increase of 8.66 in GBIF occurrences between 2014 and 2020. Medicinal Species with alkaloids show higher abundance compared to non-medicinal alkaloids, often linked also to cultivation. Alkaloids with high biodiversity are often simple alkaloids found in multiple species with the presence of 'driver species' and are more likely to be included in early-stage drug development compared to 'rare' alkaloids. Similarly, the success of an alkaloid containing species as a food supplement ('botanical') is linked to its abundance. GBIF is a useful tool for assessing the druggability of a compound from a certain source species. The success of any development programme from natural sources must take sustainable sourcing into account right from the start.
使用计算设计和经验规则来选择药物开发的候选者已经引发了广泛的讨论，讨论的焦点是这些候选者的成功概率。在之前的研究中，我们已经表明，一个物种的丰富度（由全球生物多样性信息设施（GBIF）数据集表示）是将天然产物开发成药物的核心决定因素。我们的总体目标是了解基于天然产物的药物开发的独特要求。我们在 Web of Science 上查询了生物碱与植物系统学/分类学相结合的研究。所有含有生物碱的物种在 2014 年至 2020 年间的 GBIF 出现次数平均增加了 8.66。含有生物碱的药用物种与非药用生物碱相比，其丰度更高，通常也与栽培有关。生物多样性较高的生物碱往往是在多个物种中发现的简单生物碱，存在“驱动物种”，并且与“稀有”生物碱相比，更有可能被纳入早期药物开发。同样，含有生物碱的物种作为食品补充剂（“植物药”）的成功也与其丰度有关。GBIF 是评估来自特定源物种的化合物成药性的有用工具。任何源自天然来源的开发计划的成功都必须从一开始就考虑可持续的资源供应。
