Pan-assay interference compounds (PAINS) are chemical compounds that often give false positive results in high-throughput screens. [1] PAINS tend to react nonspecifically with numerous biological targets rather than specifically affecting one desired target. [2] A number of disruptive functional groups are shared by many PAINS. [2] [3] [4]
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While a number of filters have been proposed and are used in virtual screening and computer-aided drug design, [5] the accuracy of filters with regard to compounds they flag and don't flag has been criticized. [6]
Common PAINS include toxoflavin, isothiazolones, hydroxyphenyl hydrazones, curcumin, phenol-sulfonamides, rhodanines, enones, quinones, and catechols such as luteolin, baicalin and various other flavonoids. [7]
