Divergent label-free cell phenotypic pharmacology of ligands at the overexpressed β₂-adrenergic receptors

We present subclone sensitive cell phenotypic pharmacology of ligands at the β₂-adrenergic receptor (β₂-AR) stably expressed in HEK-293 cells. The parental cell line was transfected with green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged β₂-AR. Four stable subclones were established and used to profile a library of sixty-nine AR ligands. Dynamic mass redistribution (DMR) profiling resulted in a pharmacological activity map suggesting that HEK293 endogenously expresses functional G_i-coupled α₂-AR and G_s-coupled β₂-AR, and the label-free cell phenotypic activity of AR ligands are subclone dependent. Pathway deconvolution revealed that the DMR of epinephrine is originated mostly from the remodeling of actin microfilaments and adhesion complexes, to less extent from the microtubule networks and receptor trafficking, and certain agonists displayed different efficacy towards the cAMP-Epac pathway. We demonstrate that receptor signaling and ligand pharmacology is sensitive to the receptor expression level, and the organization of the receptor and its signaling circuitry.

Resonant waveguide grating biosensor-enabled label-free and fluorescence detection of cell adhesion

Cell adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) is fundamental to many distinct aspects of cell biology, and has been an active topic for label-free biosensors. However, little attention has been paid to study the impact of receptor signaling on the cell adhesion process. We here report the development of resonant waveguide grating biosensor-enabled label-free and fluorescent approaches, and their use for investigating the adhesion of an engineered HEK-293 cell line stably expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) tagged β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) onto distinct surfaces under both ambient and physiological conditions. Results showed that cell adhesion is sensitive to both temperature and ECM coating, and distinct mechanisms govern the cell adhesion process under different conditions. The β2-AR agonists, but not its antagonists or partial agonists, were found to be capable of triggering signaling during the adhesion process, leading to an increase in the adhesion of the engineered cells onto fibronectin-coated biosensor surfaces. These results suggest that the dual approach presented is useful to investigate the mechanism of cell adhesion, and to identify drug molecules and receptor signaling that interfere with cell adhesion.