Engineered GPCRs as Tools to Modulate Signal Transduction

Physiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 313-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Pei ◽  
Sarah C. Rogan ◽  
Feng Yan ◽  
Bryan L. Roth

Different families of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been engineered to provide exclusive control over the activation of these receptors and thus to understand better the consequences of their signaling in vitro and in vivo. These engineered receptors, named RASSLs (receptors activated solely by synthetic ligands) and DREADDs (designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs), are insensitive to their endogenous ligands but can be activated by synthetic drug-like compounds. Currently, the existing RASSLs and DREADDs cover the Gi, Gq, and Gs signaling pathways. These modified GPCRs can be utilized as ideal tools to study GPCR functions selectively in specific cellular populations.

2013 ◽  
Vol 394 (12) ◽  
pp. 1615-1622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Thiel ◽  
Anke Kaufmann ◽  
Oliver G. Rössler

Abstract G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest group of plasma membrane receptors in nature and are activated by a variety of different ligands. The biological outcome of GPCR stimulation is complex, as a plethora of signaling pathways are activated upon stimulation. These complexity and diversity of GPCR signaling make it difficult to manipulate the signaling pathway of a specific GPCR by natural ligands. To reduce the complexity in experimental settings, specific pharmacological ligands that preferentially activate one signaling pathway have been developed. In addition, G-protein-coupled designer receptors that are unresponsive to endogenous ligands but can be activated by otherwise pharmacologically inert compounds have been designed. These receptors have been termed designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs. The lack of constitutive activity of these designer receptors allows their use for in vitro and in vivo studies of GPCR-mediated signal transduction. The analysis of recently generated transgenic mice showed that the expression of G-protein-coupled designer receptors represents a powerful chemical-genetic tool to investigate GPCR signaling and function.


2015 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 617-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly R. Monk ◽  
Jörg Hamann ◽  
Tobias Langenhan ◽  
Saskia Nijmeijer ◽  
Torsten Schöneberg ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 113 (13) ◽  
pp. 2463-2470 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Santini ◽  
R.B. Penn ◽  
A.W. Gagnon ◽  
J.L. Benovic ◽  
J.H. Keen

Non-visual arrestins (arrestin-2 and arrestin-3) play critical roles in the desensitization and internalization of many G protein-coupled receptors. In vitro experiments have shown that both non-visual arrestins bind with high and approximately comparable affinities to activated, phosphorylated forms of receptors. They also exhibit high affinity binding, again of comparable magnitude, to clathrin. Further, agonist-promoted internalization of many receptors has been found to be stimulated by exogenous over-expression of either arrestin2 or arrestin3. The existence of multiple arrestins raises the question whether stimulated receptors are selective for a specific endogenous arrestin under more physiological conditions. Here we address this question in RBL-2H3 cells, a cell line that expresses comparable levels of endogenous arrestin-2 and arrestin-3. When (beta)(2)-adrenergic receptors are stably expressed in these cells the receptors internalize efficiently following agonist stimulation. However, by immunofluorescence microscopy we determine that only arrestin-3, but not arrestin-2, is rapidly recruited to clathrin coated pits upon receptor stimulation. Similarly, in RBL-2H3 cells that stably express physiological levels of m1AChR, the addition of carbachol selectively induces the localization of arrestin-3, but not arrestin-2, to coated pits. Thus, this work demonstrates coupling of G protein-coupled receptors to a specific non-visual arrestin in an in vivo setting.


2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.O. Shpakov ◽  
E.A. Shpakova

The regulation of signaling pathways involved in the control of many physiological functions is carried out via the heterotrimeric G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). The search of effective and selective regulators of GPCR and intracellular signaling cascades coupled with them is one of the important problems of modern fundamental and clinical medicine. Recently data suggest that synthetic peptides and their derivatives, structurally corresponding to the intracellular and transmembrane regions of GPCR, can interact with high efficiency and selectivity with homologous receptors and influence, thus, the functional activity of intracellular signaling cascades and fundamental cellular processes controlled by them. GPCR-peptides are active in both in vitro and in vivo. They regulate hematopoiesis, angiogenesis and cell proliferation, inhibit tumor growth and metastasis, and prevent the inflammatory diseases and septic shock. These data show greatest prospects in the development of the new generations of drugs based on GPCR-derived peptides, capable of regulating the important functions of the organism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (673) ◽  
pp. eaax3053
Author(s):  
Mieke Metzemaekers ◽  
Anneleen Mortier ◽  
Alessandro Vacchini ◽  
Daiane Boff ◽  
Karen Yu ◽  
...  

The inflammatory human chemokine CXCL5 interacts with the G protein–coupled receptor CXCR2 to induce chemotaxis and activation of neutrophils. CXCL5 also has weak agonist activity toward CXCR1. The N-terminus of CXCL5 can be modified by proteolytic cleavage or deimination of Arg9 to citrulline (Cit), and these modifications can occur separately or together. Here, we chemically synthesized native CXCL5(1–78), truncated CXCL5 [CXCL5(9–78)], and the citrullinated (Cit9) versions and characterized their functions in vitro and in vivo. Compared with full-length CXCL5, N-terminal truncation resulted in enhanced potency to induce G protein signaling and β-arrestin recruitment through CXCR2, increased CXCL5-initiated internalization of CXCR2, and greater Ca2+ signaling downstream of not only CXCR2 but also CXCR1. Citrullination did not affect the capacity of CXCL5 to activate classical or alternative signaling pathways. Administering the various CXCL5 forms to mice revealed that in addition to neutrophils, CXCL5 exerted chemotactic activity toward monocytes and that this activity was increased by N-terminal truncation. These findings were confirmed by in vitro chemotaxis and Ca2+ signaling assays with primary human CD14+ monocytes and human THP-1 monocytes. In vitro and in vivo analyses suggested that CXCL5 targeted monocytes through CXCR1 and CXCR2. Thus, truncation of the N-terminus makes CXCL5 a more potent chemoattractant for both neutrophils and monocytes that acts through CXCR1 and CXCR2.


2015 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 534-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura M. Bohn ◽  
Martin J. Lohse ◽  
Michael N. Nitabach ◽  
Paul H. Taghert ◽  
Martine J. Smit

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