Seven transmembrane-spanning receptors (7TMRs or G protein-coupled receptors, GPCRs) represent the largest family of signal-transducing molecules known. For example, 7TMRs comprise more than 4% of the genes in Caenorhabditis elegans. 7TMRs convey signals for light and many extracellular regulatory molecules, such as, hormones, growth factors and neurotransmitters, that regulate every cell in the body. Dysregulation of 7TMRs has been found in a growing number of human diseases and 7TMRs have been estimated to be the targets of more than 30% of the drugs used in clinical medicine today. Thus, understanding how 7TMRs function is an important goal of biomedical research. We continue to apply molecular modeling approaches to the study of the molecular details of ligand binding to 7TMRs and to the mechanism of activation of these receptors. We study receptors for thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) (TRH-Rs), for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH-R) and for free fatty acids (GPR40/FFAR1) as model 7TMRs. During this year, we studied several aspects of binding of low molecular weight (LMW) ligands to TSH-R and used novel molecular models of the TSH-R in an iterative fashion with experiments to better define the TSH-R binding cavity. Based on molecular models, we proposed a mechanism for activation of the two subtypes of TRH-Rs, TRH-R1 and TRH-R2, and developed a new computational approach to distinguish binding and activation of TRH-R1 versus TRH-R2. Lastly, we developed the first model of GPR40 and used it to begin to understand how free fatty acids and LMW organic ligands bind to GPR40.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$271,069
Indirect Cost
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code
Neumann, Susanne; Raaka, Bruce M; Gershengorn, Marvin C (2009) Human TSH receptor ligands as pharmacological probes with potential clinical application. Expert Rev Endocrinol Metab 4:669
Tikhonova, Irina G; Best, Robert B; Engel, Stanislav et al. (2008) Atomistic insights into rhodopsin activation from a dynamic model. J Am Chem Soc 130:10141-9
Tikhonova, Irina G; Sum, Chi Shing; Neumann, Susanne et al. (2008) Discovery of novel agonists and antagonists of the free fatty acid receptor 1 (FFAR1) using virtual screening. J Med Chem 51:625-33
Engel, Stanislav; Gershengorn, Marvin C (2007) Thyrotropin-releasing hormone and its receptors--a hypothesis for binding and receptor activation. Pharmacol Ther 113:410-9
Sum, Chi Shing; Tikhonova, Irina G; Neumann, Susanne et al. (2007) Identification of residues important for agonist recognition and activation in GPR40. J Biol Chem 282:29248-55
Tikhonova, Irina G; Sum, Chi Shing; Neumann, Susanne et al. (2007) Bidirectional, iterative approach to the structural delineation of the functional ""chemoprint"" in GPR40 for agonist recognition. J Med Chem 50:2981-9
Moore, Susanna; Jaeschke, Holger; Kleinau, Gunnar et al. (2006) Evaluation of small-molecule modulators of the luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin and thyroid stimulating hormone receptors: structure-activity relationships and selective binding patterns. J Med Chem 49:3888-96
Jaschke, Holger; Neumann, Susanne; Moore, Susanna et al. (2006) A low molecular weight agonist signals by binding to the transmembrane domain of thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) and luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin receptor (LHCGR). J Biol Chem 281:9841-4