immune regulation

Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)/Rel proteins include NF-κB2 p52/p100, NF-κB1 p50/p105, c-Rel, RelA/p65, and RelB. These proteins function as dimeric transcription factors that regulate the expression of genes and influence a broad range of biological processes including innate and adaptive immunity, inflammation, stress responses, B-cell development, and lymphoid organogenesis. NF-κB plays a key role in regulating the immune response to infection. In addition, activation of the NF-κB pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Incorrect regulation of NF-κB has been linked to cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, septic shock, viral infection, and improper immune development.

MCE owns a unique collection of 1,261 small molecule compounds that can be used in the research of NF-κB signaling pathway or high throughput screening (HTS) related drug discovery.

Lactic acid metabolism is one of the key metabolic pathways within living organisms. It plays a crucial role not only in cellular energy conversion but is also closely related to a variety of physiological and pathological processes. The production and clearance of lactic acid are important indicators of cellular metabolic balance, and its abnormal regulation may lead to conditions such as lactic acidosis, muscle fatigue, and hereditary metabolic diseases. Moreover, lactic acid is closely related to the malignancy of tumors and is considered a biomarker for malignant tumors and poor prognosis. Lactic acid can serve as a metabolic substrate to support the metabolic needs of tumor cells under hypoxic conditions, and it can also cause acidification of the tumor microenvironment, suppress immune cell function to promote immune evasion, and induce drug resistance in tumor cells. Currently, targeting lactic acid-lactylation and its related metabolic pathways has become a new research avenue for cancer treatment. In-depth exploration of the molecular mechanisms of lactic acid metabolism can help in screening lead compounds that regulate the lactic acid metabolism.

MCE contains 429 small molecule compounds targeting enzymes involved in lactic acid metabolism. This library is of significant value for researching the role of lactate metabolism in the mechanisms of diseases.

Neuropeptides are small proteins produced and released by neurons through the regulation of secretory pathways, expressed in neurons and have transmitter or co-transmitter functions, and are used as nerve substrates. Neuropeptides are by far the largest and most diverse signaling molecules in the brain and have been implicated in the development of diseases and drugs. Neuropeptides are involved in inflammatory and immune diseases and have an impact on epithelial, vascular, and connective tissue cells proliferation and tissue repair. Studies have shown that neuropeptides are particularly important when the nervous system is challenged, such as stress, injury, or substance abuse. Substance P is a neuropeptide that acts as a neurotransmitter and neuromodulator in the central nervous system and is currently in clinical research and has been shown to be involved in inflammatory processes and pain.

MCE can provide 109 neuropeptides that can be used for scientific research.

Protein serine/threonine kinases (PSKs) are protein kinases that use ATP as a high-energy donor molecule to transfer phosphate groups to serine/threonine residues of target protein. As an important signal transduction regulator, serine/threonine kinases can affect the function of target proteins by disrupting enzyme activity or binding of target proteins to other proteins. Serine/threonine kinases are involved in the regulation of immune response, cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and other physiological processes. Serine/threonine kinase inhibitors are an important class of compounds that have been widely studied in cancer, chronic inflammation, autoimmune diseases, aging and other diseases.

MCE designs a unique collection of 1,672 serine/threonine kinase inhibitors, mainly targeting the receptor PKA, Akt, PKC, MAPK/ERK, etc, which is an effective tool for development and research of anti-cancer, anti-chronic inflammatory diseases, anti-autoimmune diseases and anti-aging compounds.

Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. Metabolic pathways are enzyme-mediated biochemical reactions that lead to biosynthesis (anabolism) or breakdown (catabolism) of natural product small molecules within a cell or tissue. Acting as catalysts, enzymes are crucial to metabolism - they allow a reaction to proceed more rapidly - and they also allow the regulation of the rate of a metabolic reaction. Proteases are used throughout an organism for various metabolic processes. Proteases control a great variety of physiological processes that are critical for life, including the immune response, cell cycle, cell death, wound healing, food digestion, and protein and organelle recycling. Imbalances in metabolic activities have been found to be critical in a number of pathologies, such as cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases.

MCE designs a unique collection of 5,961 Metabolism/Protease-related small molecules that act as a useful tool for drug discovery of metabolism-related diseases.

Protein ubiquitination is an enzymatic post-translational modification in which an ubiquitin protein is attached to a substrate protein. Ubiquitination involves three main steps: activation, conjugation, and ligation, performed by ubiquitin-activating enzymes (E1s), ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (E2s), and ubiquitin ligases (E3s), respectively. Ubiquitination affects cellular processes such as apoptosis, cell cycle, DNA damage repair, and membrane transportation, etc. by regulating the degradation of proteins (via the proteasome and lysosome), altering the cellular localization of proteins, affecting proteins activity, and promoting or preventing protein-protein interactions. Deregulation of ubiquitin pathway leads to many diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer, infection and immunity, etc.

MCE offers a unique collection of 360 small molecule modulators with biological activity used for ubiquitination research. Compounds in this library target the key enzymes in ubiquitin pathway. MCE Ubiquitination Compound Library is a useful tool for the research of ubiquitination regulation and the corresponding diseases.