Abstract

The long range goal of this project is to contribute to our understanding of the role of the hormone glucagon in diabetes mellitus and in intracellular signaling in general. Our immediate goals are to design and synthesize peptide analogs that will be potent antagonists of the hormone, using as our principal tool, solid phase peptide synthesis. Such inhibitors are expected to aid in the studies of the mechanism of action of glucagon at the receptor level, and might provide a potentially therapeutic agent for the in vivo regulation of blood glucose in the management of diabetes. We are extending the scope of our research to include structure-function studies of the glucagon receptor itself using a synthetic glucagon receptor gene. Functional characterization of the receptor will yield invaluable information on hormone/receptor/ G-protein/effector interactions. A combination of synthetic chemical, biochemical, and molecular biological approaches is most likely to advance our understanding of pep tide hormone-mediated signal transduction and the control of diseases like diabetes mellitus.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01DK024039-17
Application #
2137667
Study Section
Physiological Chemistry Study Section (PC)
Project Start
1978-09-15
Project End
1998-08-31
Budget Start
1994-09-01
Budget End
1995-08-31
Support Year
17
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Rockefeller University
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
071037113
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10065

  Publications

Sachdev, Pallavi; Tirunagari, Laxmi Manohar; Kappei, Dennis et al. (2009) Monitoring glucagon and glucagon antagonist-mediated internalization: a useful approach to study glucagon receptor pharmacology. Adv Exp Med Biol 611:325-6
Unson, Cecilia G (2008) Expression of glucagon receptors in tetracycline-inducible HEK293S GnT1- stable cell lines: an approach toward purification of receptor protein for structural studies. Biopolymers 90:287-96
Sapse, Anne-Marie; Rothchild, Robert; Jain, Duli C et al. (2002) The role of salt bridge formation in glucagon: an experimental and theoretical study of glucagon analogs and peptide fragments of glucagon. Mol Med 8:251-62
Unson, Cecilia G; Wu, Cui-Rong; Jiang, Youwei et al. (2002) Roles of specific extracellular domains of the glucagon receptor in ligand binding and signaling. Biochemistry 41:11795-803
Jiang, Y; Cypess, A M; Muse, E D et al. (2001) Glucagon receptor activates extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 via cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98:10102-7
Unson, C G; Wu, C R; Sakmar, T P et al. (2000) Selective stabilization of the high affinity binding conformation of glucagon receptor by the long splice variant of Galpha(s). J Biol Chem 275:21631-8
Cypess, A M; Unson, C G; Wu, C R et al. (1999) Two cytoplasmic loops of the glucagon receptor are required to elevate cAMP or intracellular calcium. J Biol Chem 274:19455-64
Unson, C G; Wu, C R; Cheung, C P et al. (1998) Positively charged residues at positions 12, 17, and 18 of glucagon ensure maximum biological potency. J Biol Chem 273:10308-12
Unson, C G; Cypess, A M; Wu, C R et al. (1996) Antibodies against specific extracellular epitopes of the glucagon receptor block glucagon binding. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93:310-5
Unson, C G; Cypess, A M; Kim, H N et al. (1995) Characterization of deletion and truncation mutants of the rat glucagon receptor. Seven transmembrane segments are necessary for receptor transport to the plasma membrane and glucagon binding. J Biol Chem 270:27720-7

Showing the most recent 10 out of 18 publications