Discovery of GPCR ligands for probing signal transduction pathways.

ABSTRACT: G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are seven integral transmembrane proteins that are the primary targets of almost 30% of approved drugs and continue to represent a major focus of pharmaceutical research. All of GPCR targeted medicines were discovered by classical medicinal chemistry approaches. After the first GPCR crystal structures were determined, the docking screens using these structures lead to discovery of more novel and potent ligands. There are over 360 pharmaceutically relevant GPCRs in the human genome and to date about only 30 of structures have been determined. For these reasons, computational techniques such as homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations have proven their usefulness to explore the structure and function of GPCRs. Furthermore, structure-based drug

SUBMITTER: Brogi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4246677 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature