Naturally occurring enzyme inhibitors and their pharmaceutical applications

Ata, Athar; Naz, Samina; Elias, Evan M.

doi:10.1351/PAC-CON-10-11-16

Pure Appl. Chem., 2011, Vol. 83, No. 9, pp. 1741-1749

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-10-11-16

Published online 2011-07-14

Naturally occurring enzyme inhibitors and their pharmaceutical applications

Athar Ata*, Samina Naz and Evan M. Elias

Department of Chemistry, The University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9, Canada

Abstract: Enzyme inhibitors play a significant role in the drug discovery process. For instance, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors have applications in curing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), senile dementia, ataxia, myasthenia gravis, and Parkinson’s disease. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) inhibitors have applications as adjuvants to overcome anticancer and antiparasitic drug resistance problems. Compounds inhibiting the activity of α-glucosidase are used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity problems. This article describes the identification of natural products exhibiting AChE, GST, and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities from medicinally important plants. Additionally, structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies of these newly discovered enzyme inhibitors are also discussed.