Introduction: The MMPs are involved in tissue remodeling. An imbalance between the inhibition and activation of MMPs results in excessive degradation of the extracellular matrix, which leads to some diseases including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases such as stroke. In this review, recent advances in the research of MMP inhibitors are reviewed.
Areas covered: This updated review summarized new patents on MMP inhibitors within January 2011 - December 2013.
Expert opinion: This review gives the latest development in the area of MMP inhibitors, which aim to treat disease processes associated with the MMPs. Structure-based design techniques have been used successfully in the search of selective MMP inhibitors, and these inhibitors can also be derived from natural products. Furthermore, imaging 'in vivo' technologies have been developed in order to follow the drug distribution to the targeted tissues, and to quantify the drug efficiency.
Keywords: MMPs; diagnostic imaging agents; drug design; inhibitor selectivity.