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. 2014 Jan;42(Database issue):D1098-106.
doi: 10.1093/nar/gkt1143. Epub 2013 Nov 14.

The IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY: an expert-driven knowledgebase of drug targets and their ligands

Affiliations

The IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY: an expert-driven knowledgebase of drug targets and their ligands

Adam J Pawson et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

The International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology/British Pharmacological Society (IUPHAR/BPS) Guide to PHARMACOLOGY (http://www.guidetopharmacology.org) is a new open access resource providing pharmacological, chemical, genetic, functional and pathophysiological data on the targets of approved and experimental drugs. Created under the auspices of the IUPHAR and the BPS, the portal provides concise, peer-reviewed overviews of the key properties of a wide range of established and potential drug targets, with in-depth information for a subset of important targets. The resource is the result of curation and integration of data from the IUPHAR Database (IUPHAR-DB) and the published BPS 'Guide to Receptors and Channels' (GRAC) compendium. The data are derived from a global network of expert contributors, and the information is extensively linked to relevant databases, including ChEMBL, DrugBank, Ensembl, PubChem, UniProt and PubMed. Each of the ∼6000 small molecule and peptide ligands is annotated with manually curated 2D chemical structures or amino acid sequences, nomenclature and database links. Future expansion of the resource will complete the coverage of all the targets of currently approved drugs and future candidate targets, alongside educational resources to guide scientists and students in pharmacological principles and techniques.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Breakdown of scientific journals cited in the resource. The chart shows the top 20 most cited journals in the resource, and the contribution of each journal as a percentage of the total.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The Guide to PHARMACOLOGY curation process and organizational chart.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Screenshot of the Cannabinoid receptor family page in the Guide to PHARMACOLOGY, with overlaying screenshots of a typical ligand page and reference page with link-out to PubMed. Also shown is a link to the ‘More detailed page’ of the CB1 receptor with a screenshot of the top section of the target page showing the ‘Contents’ table listing the types of information available for this target.

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