TargetDB: A target information aggregation tool and tractability predictor

PLoS One. 2020 Sep 2;15(9):e0232644. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232644. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

When trying to identify new potential therapeutic protein targets, access to data and knowledge is increasingly important. In a field where new resources and data sources become available every day, it is crucial to be able to take a step back and look at the wider picture in order to identify potential drug targets. While this task is routinely performed by bespoke literature searches, it is often time-consuming and lacks uniformity when comparing multiple targets at one time. To address this challenge, we developed TargetDB, a tool that aggregates public information available on given target(s) (links to disease, safety, 3D structures, ligandability, novelty, etc.) and assembles it in an easy to read output ready for the researcher to analyze. In addition, we developed a target scoring system based on the desirable attributes of good therapeutic targets and machine learning classification system to categorize novel targets as having promising or challenging tractrability. In this manuscript, we present the methodology used to develop TargetDB as well as test cases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Data Mining / methods*
  • Databases as Topic*
  • Disease
  • Drug Development
  • Humans
  • Machine Learning
  • Mice
  • Models, Chemical
  • Proteins
  • Software

Substances

  • Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Alzheimer’s Research UK [registered charity 1077089 and SC042474].