Development of Generic G Protein Peptidomimetics Able to Stabilize Active State Gs Protein-Coupled Receptors for Application in Drug Discovery

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent an important group of membrane proteins that play a central role in modern medicine. Unfortunately, conformational promiscuity hampers full therapeutic exploitation of GPCRs, since the largest population of the receptor will adopt a basal conformation, which subsequently challenges screens for agonist drug discovery programs. Herein, we describe a set of peptidomimetics able to mimic the ability of G proteins in stabilizing the active state of the beta(2) adrenergic receptor (beta(2)AR) and the dopamine 1 receptor (D1R). During fragment-based screening efforts, these (un)constrained peptide analogues of the alpha(5) helix in G(s) proteins, were able to identify agonism pre-imprinted fragments for the examined GPCRs, and as such, they behave as a generic tool, enabling an engagement in agonist earmarked discovery programs.

Automated summary

GPCRs are important membrane proteins in modern medicine. Peptidomimetics described in this study can mimic G proteins in stabilizing the active state of receptors, facilitating the discovery of agonist drugs.