Biological target

A biological target is anything within a living organism to which some other entity, like an endogenous ligand or a drug is directed and/or binds. Examples of common classes of biological targets are proteins and nucleic acids. The definition is context-dependent and can refer to the biological target of a pharmacologically active drug compound, the receptor target of a hormone (like insulin), or some other target of an external stimulus. The implication is that a target is "hit" by a signal and its behavior or function is then changed. Biological targets are most commonly proteins such as enzymes, ion channels, and receptors.

Mechanism
The external stimulus (i.e., chemical substance) physically binds to the biological target. The interaction between the substance and the target may be:
 * noncovalent – A relatively weak interaction between the stimulus and the target where no chemical bond is formed between the two interacting partners and hence the interaction is completely reversible.
 * reversible covalent - A chemical reaction occurs between the stimulus and target in which the stimulus becomes chemically bonded to the target, but the reverse reaction also readily occurs in which the bond can be broken.
 * irreversible covalent - The stimulus is permanently bound to the target through irreversible chemical bond formation.

Depending on the nature of the stimulus, the following can occur:
 * There is no direct change in the biological target, except that the binding of the substance prevents other endogenous substances such as activating hormone to bind to the target. Depending on the nature of the target, this effect is referred as receptor antagonism, enzyme inhibition, or ion channel blockade.
 * A conformational change in the target is induced by the stimulus which results in a change in target function. This change in function can mimic the effect of the endogenous substance in which case the effect is referred to as receptor agonism (or channel or enzyme activation) or be the opposite of the endogenous substance which in the case of receptors is referred to as inverse agonism.

Drug targets
The term biological target is frequently used in pharmaceutical research to describe the native protein in the body whose activity is modified by a drug resulting in a desirable therapeutic effect. In this context, the biological target is often referred to as a drug target. The most common drug targets of currently marketed drugs include:


 * proteins
 * G protein-coupled receptors (target of 50% of drugs)
 * enzymes (especially protein kinases, proteases, esterases, and phosphatases)
 * ion channels
 * ligand-gated ion channels
 * voltage-gated ion channels
 * nuclear hormone receptors
 * structural proteins such as tubulin
 * membrane transport proteins
 * nucleic acids

Databases
Databases containing biological targets information:
 * Therapeutic Targets Database (TTD)
 * DrugBank
 * Binding DB