title: Purine receptors: GPCR structure and agonist design.
abstract: An integrated approach to the study of drug-receptor interactions has been applied to adenosine receptors (ARs) and P2Y nucleotide receptors. This approach includes probing the receptor structure through site-directed mutagenesis and molecular modeling, in concert with altering the structure of the agonist ligands. Goals of this structural approach are to generate a testable hypothesis for location of the binding site and subsequently to enable the rational design of new agonists and antagonists. In this manner, receptor subtype selectivity has been increased, and agonists have been converted into partial agonists and antagonists. An approach to receptor engineering (neoceptors) has been explored, in which synthetic small molecule agonists (neoligands) are specifically tailored to activate only receptors in which the putative binding sites have been modified. This orthogonal approach to receptor activation, intended for eventual gene therapy, has been demonstrated for A3 and A2A ARs.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Recognition Section, Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Jacobson
authors.forename: Soo-Kyung
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Costanzi
authors.forename: Zhan-Guo
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D015202:Protein Engineering; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000819:agonists* / Q000737:chemistry*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled