Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29977051›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Drug discovery2018

Principles for targeting RNA with drug-like small molecules.

Katherine Deigan Warner, Christine E Hajdin, Kevin M Weeks

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Drug discovery, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 403 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
403citing papers in PubMed
25.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

403 citing papers in PubMed, 756 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Chemical Biology 2025: Highlights From the Ch/Bi145 Course at Caltech.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2026
    Review
  3. Review
  4. Machine Learning for RNA-Targeting Drug Design.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2026
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Comparative Evaluation of Explicit Solvent Models for RNA-Ligand Docking.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2026
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review

343 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Katherine Deigan WarnerRibometrix, Durham, NC, USA.
Christine E HajdinRibometrix, Durham, NC, USA.
Kevin M WeeksDepartment of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Ribometrix (United States) · USUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Funding

Structure of the HIV-1 GenomeR01AI068462 · NIAID · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI WEEKS, KEVIN M · 2006 to 2020
$7.4M
Discovery and Function of Higher-Order RNA StructureR35GM122532 · NIGMS · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI Kevin M Weeks · 2017 to 2026
$5.7M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI068462NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM122532
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

RNA molecules are essential for cellular information transfer and gene regulation, and RNAs have been implicated in many human diseases. Messenger and non-coding RNAs contain highly structured elements, and evidence suggests that many of these structures are important for function. Targeting these RNAs with small molecules offers opportunities to therapeutically modulate numerous cellular processes, including those linked to 'undruggable' protein targets. Despite this promise, there is currently only a single class of human-designed small molecules that target RNA used clinically - the linezolid antibiotics. However, a growing number of small-molecule RNA ligands are being identified, leading to burgeoning interest in the field. Here, we discuss principles for discovering small-molecule drugs that target RNA and argue that the overarching challenge is to identify appropriate target structures - namely, in disease-causing RNAs that have high information content and, consequently, appropriate ligand-binding pockets. If focus is placed on such druggable binding sites in RNA, extensive knowledge of the typical physicochemical properties of drug-like small molecules could then enable small-molecule drug discovery for RNA targets to become (only) roughly as difficult as for protein targets.

Indexed as

AnimalsAnti-Bacterial AgentsBinding SitesDrug DiscoveryHumansLigandsProteinsRNASmall Molecule LibrariesAnti-Bacterial AgentsLigandsProteinsRNASmall Molecule Libraries

Identifiers

PMID29977051
PMCPMC6420209
OpenAlexW2820941669

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.