Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 and Its Class B G Protein-Coupled Receptors: A Long March to Therapeutic Successes

Chris de Graaf; Dan Donnelly; Denise Wootten; Jesper Lau; Patrick M Sexton; Laurence J Miller; Jung-Mo Ahn; Jiayu Liao; Madeleine M Fletcher; Dehua Yang; Alastair J H Brown; Caihong Zhou; Jiejie Deng; Ming-Wei Wang

doi:10.1124/pr.115.011395

Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 and Its Class B G Protein-Coupled Receptors: A Long March to Therapeutic Successes

Pharmacol Rev. 2016 Oct;68(4):954-1013. doi: 10.1124/pr.115.011395.

Affiliations

¹ Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (C.d.G.); School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom (D.D.); Drug Discovery Biology Theme and Department of Pharmacology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Parkville, Victoria, Australia (D.W., P.M.S., M.M.F.); Protein and Peptide Chemistry, Global Research, Novo Nordisk A/S, Måløv, Denmark (J.La.); Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona (L.J.M.); Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas (J.-M.A.); Department of Bioengineering, Bourns College of Engineering, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, California (J.Li.); National Center for Drug Screening and CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China (D.Y., C.Z., J.D., M.-W.W.); Heptares Therapeutics, BioPark, Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom (A.J.H.B.); and School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, Shanghai, China (M.-W.W.).
² Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (C.d.G.); School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom (D.D.); Drug Discovery Biology Theme and Department of Pharmacology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Parkville, Victoria, Australia (D.W., P.M.S., M.M.F.); Protein and Peptide Chemistry, Global Research, Novo Nordisk A/S, Måløv, Denmark (J.La.); Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona (L.J.M.); Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas (J.-M.A.); Department of Bioengineering, Bourns College of Engineering, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, California (J.Li.); National Center for Drug Screening and CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China (D.Y., C.Z., J.D., M.-W.W.); Heptares Therapeutics, BioPark, Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom (A.J.H.B.); and School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, Shanghai, China (M.-W.W.) mwwang@simm.ac.cn.

Abstract

The glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor (GLP-1R) is a class B G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that mediates the action of GLP-1, a peptide hormone secreted from three major tissues in humans, enteroendocrine L cells in the distal intestine, α cells in the pancreas, and the central nervous system, which exerts important actions useful in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity, including glucose homeostasis and regulation of gastric motility and food intake. Peptidic analogs of GLP-1 have been successfully developed with enhanced bioavailability and pharmacological activity. Physiologic and biochemical studies with truncated, chimeric, and mutated peptides and GLP-1R variants, together with ligand-bound crystal structures of the extracellular domain and the first three-dimensional structures of the 7-helical transmembrane domain of class B GPCRs, have provided the basis for a two-domain-binding mechanism of GLP-1 with its cognate receptor. Although efforts in discovering therapeutically viable nonpeptidic GLP-1R agonists have been hampered, small-molecule modulators offer complementary chemical tools to peptide analogs to investigate ligand-directed biased cellular signaling of GLP-1R. The integrated pharmacological and structural information of different GLP-1 analogs and homologous receptors give new insights into the molecular determinants of GLP-1R ligand selectivity and functional activity, thereby providing novel opportunities in the design and development of more efficacious agents to treat metabolic disorders.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Glucagon-Like Peptide 1* / chemistry
Glucagon-Like Peptide 1* / genetics
Glucagon-Like Peptide 1* / metabolism
Humans
Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled* / chemistry
Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled* / metabolism

Substances

Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled
Glucagon-Like Peptide 1