Multiple cellular enzymes

Multiple cellular enzymes is a generic, collective term used in pharmacology to describe the targets of drugs that exhibit broad polypharmacology or require complex metabolic processing. Rather than interacting with a single, well-defined protein, these drugs modulate the activity of numerous enzymes across diverse biological pathways, such as signal transduction, metabolism, and DNA repair [1, 3, 4]. This designation is frequently applied to multi-targeted kinase inhibitors like sunitinib, which achieve therapeutic efficacy by blocking several receptor tyrosine kinases simultaneously to inhibit tumor growth and angiogenesis [3]. Additionally, many natural products, such as quercetin and curcumin, are described as targeting multiple cellular enzymes due to their promiscuous binding to various proteins involved in inflammation and oxidative stress [5]. The term also encompasses the coordinated action of various host enzymes required for the metabolic activation of prodrugs, particularly in antiviral therapy [1, 7]. Because this designation lacks a specific molecular identity and involves a wide range of proteins, it is often associated with significant safety concerns, including off-target toxicity and unpredictable drug-drug interactions [3, 5].

Other names

Multi-targetPolypharmacological targetsNon-specific enzyme targetsEnzymes (generic group)Host cell enzymes

Simultaneous inhibition of multiple enzymatic proteins, non-specific covalent modification of protein residues, and metabolic activation of prodrugs.