Methods for identifying inhibitors of cytochrome P450RAI

A method identifying a compound which is an inhibitor of the enzyme P450RAI, the method comprising:

• selecting a compound that has activity as a retinoid in an art recognized assay which demonstrates retinoid-like activity;
• the retinoid compound including a moiety selected from the group consisting of benzoic acid, benzoic acid ester, naphthoic acid, naphthoic acid ester, heteroaryl carboxylic acid and heteroaryl carboxylic acid ester, with a partial structure of —A(R2)—(Ch2)n—COOR8 where n is 0, A is a phenyl or naphthyl group, or heteroaryl selected from a group consisting of pyridyl, thienyl, furyl, pyridazinyl, pyrimidinyl, pyrazinyl, thiazolyl, oxazolyl, imidazolyl and pyrrazoly, said phenyl, naphthyl and heteroaryl groups being optionally substituted with one or two R2 groups;
• R2 is independently H, alkyl of 1 of 6 carbons, F, Cl, Br, I, CF3, fluoro substituted alkyl of 1 of 6 carbons, —CH2O(C1-6-alkyl), or a cation of a pharmaceutically acceptable base, and
• further selecting a compound that is a homolog of the selected retinoid compound where in the formula of the homolog n is 1 or 2 which compound is identified as an inhibitor of cytochrome P450RAI.