Cited by 284Receptor Mechanisms and SignalingComputational Drug Discovery MethodsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Allosteric ligands for the pharmacologically dark receptors GPR68 and GPR65

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Huang, Xi-Ping, Karpiak, Joel, Kroeze, Wesley K., Zhu, Hu, Chen, Xin, Moy, Sheryl S., Saddoris, Kara A., Nikolova, Viktoriya D. +11 more·2015·Nature

Abstract

At least 120 non-olfactory G-protein-coupled receptors in the human genome are 'orphans' for which endogenous ligands are unknown, and many have no selective ligands, hindering the determination of their biological functions and clinical relevance. Among these is GPR68, a proton receptor that lacks small molecule modulators for probing its biology. Using yeast-based screens against GPR68, here we identify the benzodiazepine drug lorazepam as a non-selective GPR68 positive allosteric modulator. More than 3,000 GPR68 homology models were refined to recognize lorazepam in a putative allosteric site. Docking 3.1 million molecules predicted new GPR68 modulators, many of which were confirmed in functional assays. One potent GPR68 modulator, ogerin, suppressed recall in fear conditioning in wild-type but not in GPR68-knockout mice. The same approach led to the discovery of allosteric agonists and negative allosteric modulators for GPR65. Combining physical and structure-based screening may be broadly useful for ligand discovery for understudied and orphan GPCRs.

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  • GPCRs are important off-targets for kinase inhibitors, ion channel modulators, anti-infectives and other drug-like molecules.

    “GPCRs also represent important off-targets for kinase inhibitors62,63, ion channel modulators64, anti-infectives65 and other classes of drug-like molecules53,54.”

    From Unexplored therapeutic opportunities in the human genome (2018) · cites this paper as [64]

  • 52 non-olfactory GPCRs are categorized as Tdark, and new screening platforms have begun the process of illuminating them.

    “Although 52 non-olfactory GPCRs are categorized as Tdark, the availability of new screening platforms to discover chemical matter for these GPCRs has begun the process of illumination64,67,68.”

    From Unexplored therapeutic opportunities in the human genome (2018) · cites this paper as [64]

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Authors
Huang, X.-P., Karpiak, J., Kroeze, W. K., Zhu, H., Chen, X., Moy, S. S., Saddoris, K. A., Nikolova, V. D., Farrell, M. S., Wang, S., Mangano, T. J., Deshpande, D. A., Jiang, A., Penn, R. B., Jin, J., Koller, B. H., Kenakin, T., Shoichet, B. K., & Roth, B. L.
Affiliations
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
  • Thomas Jefferson University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Shoichet, Brian K.
  • Roth, Bryan L.
Venue
Nature
Published
2015-11
Volume
527
Issue
7579
Pages
477-483
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2125957493
Cited by
284
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 1
FWCI
11.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • UNC Libraries
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (HL114471, GM71896, HD079124)
  • Genentech
  • National Institute on Aging (R01AG041265)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (P01HL114471)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (U19MH082441, U01MH104974, GM59957)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA027170, R01DA017204)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM71896, GM59957, R01GM059957, R01GM071896)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U54HD079124)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Computational Drug Discovery Methods
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
GPR68, GPR65, orphan G protein-coupled receptor, allosteric modulators, lorazepam, positive allosteric modulators, negative allosteric modulators, allosteric agonists, fear conditioning, yeast-based screening, benzodiazepines, homology modeling
MeSH terms
Allosteric Regulation, Allosteric Site, Animals, Benzyl Alcohols, Conditioning, Classical, Fear, Female, Humans, Ligands, Lorazepam, Male, Memory, Models, Molecular, Anti-Anxiety Agents, Triazines, Signal Transduction, Mice, Knockout, Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled, Mice, Drug Discovery, HEK293 Cells

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