G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are an important family of signal-transducing membrane proteins capable of binding various types of ligands from the extracellular space and activating various signalling pathways inside the cell, rendering them one of the largest protein target families…

Whilst life is always exciting as an ion channel pharmacologist, the last few months have been particularly so, with a large number of publications showing structures of ion channels with regulatory molecules bound to them. In just the last month,…

New machine learning algorithm for drug discovery that is twice as efficient as the industry standard and identified potential ligands for the M1 receptor, a potential target for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. A paper from Lee et al. [1]…

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) transduce physiological and sensory stimuli into appropriate cellular responses and mediate the actions of one-third of drugs. Structures of GPCRs are therefore extremely valuable for understanding basic receptor function and rational drug design. Today, 310 structures…

Cannabinoid receptors respond to multiple endogenous fatty acid derivatives and are often divided into neuronal-associated CB1 receptors and immune cell-associated CB2 receptors. Both receptors are GPCR, coupled predominantly to Gi, and have cytoprotective properties. The predominant psychotropic agent in Cannabis, THC,…

Comments by Dr. Nicola J. Smith, National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow & Group Leader, Molecular Pharmacology Laboratory, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Australia As is often the case with orphan GPCRs, assigning the endogenous ligand has been controversial for the…

A new facet of the human brain has been reported [1] involving a first example of somatic gene recombination in neurons, representing a normal neural mechanism whose disruption could underlie the most common (sporadic) forms of Alzheimer’s disease. Mosaic and…

The cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) was introduced in July of 2013 as a means to investigate drug target engagement inside live cells and tissues (1). The underlying principle of CETSA is simple – it relies on the thermostability of…

Piezo channels (Piezo1 and Piezo2) are excitatory ion channels which respond directly to a variety of forms of mechanical stimuli. Two recent papers describe some of the critical roles of Piezo channels in sensory neuron transduction (1, 2). In the…

The receptor tyrosine phosphatase (RTP) family is a relatively small group of cell-surface proteins with a simple intracellular enzymatic function in the dephosphorylation of phosphotyrosine proteins. There is less known about the endogenous extracellular ligands which regulate RTP activities in…

The unfortunate French clinical trial disaster in which the FAAH inhibitor BIA 10-2747 (ligand ID 9001)  left one participant dead and several others with serious neurological adverse events, occurred back in January 2016.  However, the primary publication that describes the properties…

In this multi-author, multi-centre publication [1] lead by Denise Wootten and Patrick Sexton from the Monash Institute of Pharmacological Sciences, there is reported a 3.3 Angstrom structure of one of the more unusual G protein-coupled receptors. The CGRP receptor is…

This paper [1] extends previous studies demonstrating a key role of voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ channels in the modulation of activity-dependent gene transcription. Earlier work in cultured neurons had already shown that L-type channel activity is required to activate gene expression…

The potassium channels KV7.2-KV7.5 (KCNQ2-5; GtoPdb target IDs 561-564) regulate neuronal excitability in the mammalian nervous system. The best characterised neuronal KV7 channels give rise to the M current (1) and are mediated predominantly by hetero-tetramers of KV7.2 and KV7.3…

A new type of deorphanization conundrum confronted in pairing the GPCR, MAS1 with the hormonal peptide angiotensin 1–7 (Ang1-7) was emphasised in recent IUPHAR reviews (1, 2). More evidence for disconnection between Ang1-7 and MAS1 is presented in the recent…

What will Systems Biology look like in the future? Up to now, it has focussed on the development of standards, software tools and databases that enabled us to study the dynamics of physiological function mechanistically. However as these tools and…

The A1 adenosine receptor is, for most people, a molecular target they can become conscious of when they block it, which happens frequently. Rapid consumption of higher doses of caffeine, in products like Italian espresso or Turkish coffee, provokes a…

19 June 2018 update. Announced only about a week after the events described below,  yet a third clinical candidate, lanabecestat  (AZD-3293, LY3314814) has also bitten the dust (4).  The two PhIII trials were stopped because they were deemed unlikely to meet their…

The A2A adenosine receptor is densely expressed in dopamine-rich areas of the brain and in the vasculature. It is the target of an adjunct medication for Parkinson’s Disease, istradefylline in Japan, an A2A receptor antagonist. The A2A adenosine receptor is an example…

The TRPV2 ion channel is the less well-characterised relative of the TRPV1 or vanilloid receptor that is activated by capsaicin. TRPV2 channels have many similarities to the TRPV1 channels, in that they are homotetrameric and respond to some of the same…

Negative allosteric modulators (NAMs) are of great interest in drug development because they offer improved scope for the production of receptor antagonists with enhanced subtype-selectivity. Indeed, many NAMs are already on the market or undergoing clinical trials. NAMs act by…

The TREK subfamily of K2P channels (K2P2, K2P4 and K2P10) pass background potassium currents that modulate the excitability of neuronal cells and cardiac myocytes. In recent years, these channels have received significant attention as potential drug targets. This is in…