Prospects for multitarget lipid-raft-coated silica beads: a remarkable online biomaterial for discovering multitarget antitumor lead compounds

Abstract

A recently discovered receptor-rich lipid raft, which is linked to numerous transmembrane signal transduction pathways, has emerged as a medically significant biomaterial for screening antitumor agents. Compounds that interact with the biomaterial might potentially inhibit cancer cell growth, and thus be valuable as antitumor agents. Two standard anticancer drugs, lestaurtinib and gefitinib, interacted with the tropomyosin-related tyrosine kinase A (TrkA) receptor-rich lipid raft. The fact that they are both well known inhibitors of TrkA receptor strengthened the observed linkage. There is now a considerable interest in developing other related biomaterials to serve a similar purpose, and more importantly, support the concept of multitarget drug discovery. It is expected that new anticancer drugs strategically act on multiple pathways to achieve optimal therapeutic efficacies and decreased stimulation of acquired resistance. However, the current conventional approaches such as chemical screening systems and in silico methods cannot fully satisfy the increasing demand for the therapeutic agents. It has therefore become imperative to explore other alternatives to increase the number of clinically important antitumor agents. Here, we report the prospect of establishing lipid raft biomaterial with well endowed multiple cancer-related receptors for screening antitumor leads that affect multiple pathways. This review also examines receptor–ligand interactions in the hunt for novel antitumor agents and the associated key receptors.