Lead compound optimization strategy (8) drug transporters and related drug design strategies

Transporters have a great influence on the transportation and distribution of drugs in the body. On the one hand, solute carrier transporters could transport drugs into tissues and organs, which may improve the oral bioavailability or change the tissue-distribution of the drugs. On the other hand, the ATP-binding cassette could pump some drugs out of the cell, which decreases the intracellular drug concentrations and leads to drug resistance. This paper summarizes the distribution, substrate characteristics and drug design strategies of several important drug transporters, such as improving bioavailability by prodrug design, introducing acid group to improve hepatic selectivity and adjusting the polarity of compounds to decrease efflux ratio.