title: What is pharmacological 'affinity'? Relevance to biased agonism and antagonism.
abstract: The differences between affinity measurements made in binding studies and those relevant to receptor function are described. There are theoretical and practical reasons for not utilizing binding data and, in terms of the quantification of signaling bias, it is unnecessary to do so. Finally, the allosteric control of ligand affinity through receptor-signaling protein interaction is discussed within the context of biased antagonism. In this regard, it is shown that both the bias and relative efficacy of a ligand are essential data for fully predicting biased effects in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Electronic address: Kenakin@email.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kenakin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D054313:Drug Agonism; D004336:Drug Antagonism; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface
keywords: biased agonism; biased signaling; receptor theory