Pharmacological reactivation of the γ-globin gene for the production of foetal haemoglobin (HbF) is a very promising therapeutic avenue for β-thalassaemia. Increased production of γ-globin can ameliorate the symptoms of the disease by partly substituting the non-functional β-globin gene, and restoring the balance between α and non-α globin chains. Drugs currently available for this purpose have limited application due to moderate therapeutic properties, variable patient response and potential cytotoxic effects. Although research into finding new HbF-inducing agents is imperative, the absence of a known biological target hampers drug discovery.
This tool aims to speed up the process of drug discovery by combining the principles of biology and chemoinformatics technology, allowing a more focussed approach to the task of screening for new pharmacological agents in the absence of a known biological target. The model was internally and externally validated paying special attention to the principles of model validation for accepting Chemoinformatics models as described by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This web service will facilitate the computer aided small molecule design as it can serve as a source of activity prediction for compounds. The user can draw a new structure, enter a SMILES notation or upload many structures in an sdf file. By the click of a button a prediction is made available together with a value that indicates if the structure can be tolerated by the model in terms of its domain of applicability.