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Zhang M, Chen T, Lu X, Lan X, Chen Z, Lu S. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs): advances in structures, mechanisms, and drug discovery. Signal Transduct Target Ther 2024; 9:88. [PMID: 38594257 PMCID: PMC11004190 DOI: 10.1038/s41392-024-01803-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024] Open
Abstract
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the largest family of human membrane proteins and an important class of drug targets, play a role in maintaining numerous physiological processes. Agonist or antagonist, orthosteric effects or allosteric effects, and biased signaling or balanced signaling, characterize the complexity of GPCR dynamic features. In this study, we first review the structural advancements, activation mechanisms, and functional diversity of GPCRs. We then focus on GPCR drug discovery by revealing the detailed drug-target interactions and the underlying mechanisms of orthosteric drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in the past five years. Particularly, an up-to-date analysis is performed on available GPCR structures complexed with synthetic small-molecule allosteric modulators to elucidate key receptor-ligand interactions and allosteric mechanisms. Finally, we highlight how the widespread GPCR-druggable allosteric sites can guide structure- or mechanism-based drug design and propose prospects of designing bitopic ligands for the future therapeutic potential of targeting this receptor family.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingyang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Protection, Development and Utilization of Medicinal Resources in Liupanshan Area, Ministry of Education, Peptide & Protein Drug Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
- Medicinal Chemistry and Bioinformatics Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China
| | - Ting Chen
- Department of Cardiology, Changzheng Hospital, Affiliated to Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200003, China
| | - Xun Lu
- Medicinal Chemistry and Bioinformatics Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China
| | - Xiaobing Lan
- Key Laboratory of Protection, Development and Utilization of Medicinal Resources in Liupanshan Area, Ministry of Education, Peptide & Protein Drug Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Ziqiang Chen
- Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital, Affiliated to Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
| | - Shaoyong Lu
- Key Laboratory of Protection, Development and Utilization of Medicinal Resources in Liupanshan Area, Ministry of Education, Peptide & Protein Drug Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China.
- Medicinal Chemistry and Bioinformatics Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China.
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Janero DR. Current strategic trends in drug discovery: the present as prologue. Expert Opin Drug Discov 2024; 19:147-159. [PMID: 37936504 DOI: 10.1080/17460441.2023.2275640] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Escalating costs and inherent uncertainties associated with drug discovery invite initiatives to improve its efficiency and de-risk campaigns for inventing better therapeutics. One such initiative involves recognizing and exploiting current approaches in therapeutics invention with molecular mechanisms of action that hold promise for designing and targeting new chemical entities as drugs. AREAS COVERED This perspective considers the current contextual framework around three drug-discovery approaches and evaluates their potential to help identify new targets/modalities in small-molecule molecular pharmacology: diversifying ligand-directed phenotypes for G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) pharmacotherapeutic signaling; developing therapeutic-protein degraders and stabilizers for proximity-inducing pharmacology; and mining organelle biology for druggable therapeutic targets. EXPERT OPINION The contemporary drug-discovery approaches examined appear generalizable and versatile to have applications in therapeutics invention beyond those case studies discussed herein. Accordingly, they may be considered strategic trends worthy of note in advancing the field toward novel ways of addressing pharmacotherapeutically unmet medical needs.
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Affiliation(s)
- David R Janero
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Health Sciences Entrepreneurs, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
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Lu X, Lan X, Lu S, Zhang J. Progressive computational approaches to facilitate decryption of allosteric mechanism and drug discovery. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2023; 83:102701. [PMID: 37716092 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2023.102701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/18/2023]
Abstract
Allostery is a ubiquitous biological phenomenon where perturbation at topologically distal areas of a protein serves as a trigger to fine-tune the orthosteric site and thus regulate protein function. The investigation of allosteric regulation greatly enhances our understanding of human diseases and broadens avenue for drug discovery. For decades, owing to the difficulty in allostery characterization through serendipitous experimental screening, researchers have developed several innovative computational approaches, which proves to accelerate the elucidation of allostery. Herein, we review the state-of-the-art advance of computational methodologies for allostery study, with particular emphasis on promising trends emerging over the past two years. We expect this review will outline the latest landscape of allostery study and inspire researchers to further facilitate this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xun Lu
- School of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China; State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, National Research Center for Translational Medicine at Shanghai, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China; Medicinal Chemistry and Bioinformatics Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
| | - Xiaobing Lan
- School of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China
| | - Shaoyong Lu
- School of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China; State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, National Research Center for Translational Medicine at Shanghai, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China; Medicinal Chemistry and Bioinformatics Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
| | - Jian Zhang
- School of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China; State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, National Research Center for Translational Medicine at Shanghai, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China; Medicinal Chemistry and Bioinformatics Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China; School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
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Park JE, Kirsch K, Lee H, Oliva P, Ahn JI, Ravishankar H, Zeng Y, Fox SD, Kirby SA, Badhwar P, Andresson T, Jacobson KA, Lee KS. Specific inhibition of an anticancer target, polo-like kinase 1, by allosterically dismantling its mechanism of substrate recognition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2305037120. [PMID: 37603740 PMCID: PMC10629583 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2305037120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) is considered an attractive target for anticancer therapy. Over the years, studies on the noncatalytic polo-box domain (PBD) of Plk1 have raised the expectation of generating highly specific protein-protein interaction inhibitors. However, the molecular nature of the canonical PBD-dependent interaction, which requires extensive water network-mediated interactions with its phospholigands, has hampered efforts to identify small molecules suitable for Plk1 PBD drug discovery. Here, we report the identification of the first allosteric inhibitor of Plk1 PBD, called Allopole, a prodrug that can disrupt intracellular interactions between PBD and its cognate phospholigands, delocalize Plk1 from centrosomes and kinetochores, and induce mitotic block and cancer cell killing. At the structural level, its unmasked active form, Allopole-A, bound to a deep Trp-Phe-lined pocket occluded by a latch-like loop, whose adjoining region was required for securely retaining a ligand anchored to the phospho-binding cleft. Allopole-A binding completely dislodged the L2 loop, an event that appeared sufficient to trigger the dissociation of a phospholigand and inhibit PBD-dependent Plk1 function during mitosis. Given Allopole's high specificity and antiproliferative potency, this study is expected to open an unexplored avenue for developing Plk1 PBD-specific anticancer therapeutic agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jung-Eun Park
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Klara Kirsch
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Hobin Lee
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
- Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Paola Oliva
- Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Jong Il Ahn
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Harsha Ravishankar
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Yan Zeng
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Stephen D. Fox
- Protein Characterization Laboratory, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., Frederick, MD21702
| | - Samuel A. Kirby
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
- Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Pooja Badhwar
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Thorkell Andresson
- Protein Characterization Laboratory, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., Frederick, MD21702
| | - Kenneth A. Jacobson
- Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
| | - Kyung S. Lee
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20892
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Zhang X, Zhang S, Wang M, Chen H, Liu H. Advances in the allostery of angiotensin II type 1 receptor. Cell Biosci 2023; 13:110. [PMID: 37330563 DOI: 10.1186/s13578-023-01063-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) is a promising therapeutic target for cardiovascular diseases. Compared with orthosteric ligands, allosteric modulators attract considerable attention for drug development due to their unique advantages of high selectivity and safety. However, no allosteric modulators of AT1R have been applied in clinical trials up to now. Except for the classical allosteric modulators of AT1R such as antibody, peptides and amino acids, cholesterol and biased allosteric modulators, there are non-classical allosteric modes including the ligand-independent allosteric mode, and allosteric mode of biased agonists and dimers. In addition, finding the allosteric pockets based on AT1R conformational change and interaction interface of dimers are the future of drug design. In this review, we summarize the different allosteric mode of AT1R, with a view to contribute to the development and utilization of drugs targeting AT1R allostery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi Zhang
- Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders Related Cardiovascular Disease, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
| | - Suli Zhang
- Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders Related Cardiovascular Disease, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
| | - Meili Wang
- Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders Related Cardiovascular Disease, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
| | - Hao Chen
- Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders Related Cardiovascular Disease, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
| | - Huirong Liu
- Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China.
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders Related Cardiovascular Disease, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China.
- Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, 10 Xitoutiao, You An Men Street, Beijing, 100069, China.
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6
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Whiting ZM, Yin J, de la Harpe SM, Vernall AJ, Grimsey NL. Developing the Cannabinoid Receptor 2 (CB2) pharmacopoeia: past, present, and future. Trends Pharmacol Sci 2022; 43:754-771. [PMID: 35906103 DOI: 10.1016/j.tips.2022.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Cannabinoid Receptor 2 (CB2) is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) with considerable, though as yet unrealised, therapeutic potential. Promising preclinical data supports the applicability of CB2 activation in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, pain, neurodegeneration, and osteoporosis. A diverse pharmacopoeia of cannabinoid ligands is available, which has led to considerable advancements in the understanding of CB2 function and extensive preclinical evaluation. However, until recently, most CB2 ligands were highly lipophilic and as such not optimal for clinical application due to unfavourable physicochemical properties. A number of strategies have been applied to develop CB2 ligands to achieve closer to 'drug-like' properties and a few such compounds have now undergone clinical trial. We review the current state of CB2 ligand development and progress in optimising physicochemical properties, understanding advanced molecular pharmacology such as functional selectivity, and clinical evaluation of CB2-targeting compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zak M Whiting
- Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Centre for Brain Research, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Jiazhen Yin
- Department of Chemistry, Division of Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Sara M de la Harpe
- Department of Chemistry, Division of Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Andrea J Vernall
- Department of Chemistry, Division of Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Natasha L Grimsey
- Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Centre for Brain Research, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, Auckland, New Zealand.
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