G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) comprise the largest family of membrane proteins in the human genome and mediate cellular responses to an extensive array of hormones, neurotransmitters, and sensory stimuli. While some crystal structures have been determined for GPCRs, most are for modified forms, showing little basal activity, and are bound to inverse agonists or antagonists1. Consequently, these structures correspond to receptors in their inactive states. The visual pigment rhodopsin is the only GPCR for which structures exist that are thought to be in the active state2,3. However, these structures are for the apoprotein or opsin form that does not contain the agonist all-trans retinal. We present here a crystal structure for the constitutively active rhodopsin mutant E113Q4-6 in complex with a peptide derived from the C-terminus of the G protein transducin (the GαCT peptide). Importantly, the protein appears to be in an active conformation, and retinal is retained in the binding pocket after photoactivation. Comparison with the structure of ground state rhodopsin7 suggests how translocation of the retinal β-ionone ring leads to a rotational tilt of transmembrane helix 6 (TM6), the critical conformational change upon activation8. A key feature of this conformational change is a reorganization of water mediated hydrogen-bonding networks between the retinal-binding pocket and three of the most conserved GPCR sequence motifs. For the first time we thus show how an agonist ligand can activate its GPCR.

The human cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) belongs to the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family. Among the members of GPCR family, it has an exceptionally long extracellular Nterminal domain (N-tail) of 116 amino acids but has no typical signal sequence. This poses questions of how the long N-tail affects the biosynthesis of the receptor and of how it is inserted into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. Here we have examined the process of membrane assembly of CB1 in the ER membrane and the maturation of the receptor from the ER to the plasma membrane. We find that the long N-tail cannot be efficiently translocated across the ER membrane, causing the rapid degradation of CB1 by proteasomes; this leads to a low level of expression of the receptor at the plasma membrane. The addition of a signal peptide at the N terminus of CB1 or shortening of the long N-tail greatly enhances the stability and cell surface expression of the receptor without affecting receptor binding to a cannabinoid ligand, CP-55,940. We propose that the N-tail translocation is a crucial early step in biosynthesis of the receptor and may play a role in regulating the stability and surface expression of CB1.

1 The ability of the endogenous fatty acid amide, cis-oleamide (ODA), to bind to and activate cannabinoid CB 1 and CB 2 receptors was investigated. The anatomical distribution of ODA-stimulated [ 35 S]GTPgS binding in rat brain sections was indistinguishable from that of HU210. Increases of similar magnitude were observed due to both agonists in the striatum, cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum. 7 ODA (10 mM) significantly inhibited forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP (cAMP) accumulation in mouse neuroblastoma N1E 115 cells (P ¼ 0.02, n ¼ 11). ODA-mediated inhibition was completely reversed by 1 mM SR141716A (Po0.001, n ¼ 11) and was also reversed by pretreatment with 300 ng ml À1 pertussis toxin (Po0.001, n ¼ 6). 8 These data demonstrate that ODA is a full cannabinoid CB 1 receptor agonist. Therefore, in addition to allosteric modulation of other receptors and possible entourage effects due to fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibition, the effects of ODA may be mediated directly via the CB 1 receptor.

Human cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB 1 ) has attracted substantial interest as a potential therapeutic target for treating obesity and other obsessive disorders. An understanding of the mechanism governing the transition of the CB 1 receptor between its inactive and active states is critical for understanding how therapeutics can selectively regulate receptor activity. We have examined the importance of the Thr at position 210 in CB 1 in this transition, a residue predicted to be on the same face of the helix as the Arg of the DRY motif highly conserved in the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily. This Thr was substituted with Ile and Ala via mutagenesis, and the receptors, T210I and T210A, were expressed in HEK 293 cells. The T210I receptor exhibited enhanced agonist and diminished inverse agonist affinity relative to the wild type, consistent with a shift toward the active form. However, treatment with GTPγS to inhibit G protein coupling diminished the affinity change for the inverse agonist SR141716A. The decreased thermal stability of the T210I receptor and increased level of internalization of a T210I receptor-GFP chimera were also observed, consistent with constitutive activity. In contrast, the T210A receptor exhibited the opposite profile: diminished agonist and enhanced inverse agonist affinity. The T210A receptor was found to be more thermally stable than the wild type, and high levels of a T210A receptor-GFP chimera were localized to the cell surface as predicted for an inactive receptor form. These results suggest that T210 plays a key role in governing the transition between inactive and active CB 1 receptor states.Human cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB 1 ) 1 is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily and, as such, consists of seven α-helical membrane-spanning segments that mediate the effects of extracellular signaling molecules. As a consequence of ligand binding, rearrangements in these segments impact the association of the receptor with an intracellular G protein which, in turn, impacts biological activity. GPCRs are subdivided into five families based on sequence homology, and the cannabinoid receptors are classified as members of the family 1a rhodopsin-like receptors. The conformation of family 1a receptors is chararcterized, in part, by a salt bridge between the cytosolic ends of transmembane segment 3 (TM3), including the DRY motif, and transmembrane segment 6 (TM6). In the resting state, this ionic lock creates a kink in TM6 at the conserved CWXP motif (1,2). Upon activation, the salt bridge is disrupted concomitant with relaxation and rotation of TM6 relative to . Accompanying these molecular rearrangements is the exposure of a hydrophobic patch on the cytoplasmic surface of the receptor which may be key for G protein binding (6).Mutagenesis of the histamine receptor (7), the β 2 -adrenergic receptor (8), and the α 1B -adrenergic receptor (9) to remove functional groups involved in the ionic lock results in † This work was supported in part by National Institutes of...

Bispecific antibodies offer a promising approach for the treatment of cancer but can be challenging to engineer and manufacture. Here we report the development of PF-06671008, an extended-half-life dual-affinity re-targeting (DART ® ) bispecific molecule against P-cadherin and CD3 that demonstrates antibody-like properties. Using phage display, we identified anti-P-cadherin single chain Fv (scFv) that were subsequently affinity-optimized to picomolar affinity using stringent phage selection strategies, resulting in low picomolar potency in cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) killing assays in the DART format. The crystal structure of this disulfide-constrained diabody shows that it forms a novel compact structure with the two antigen binding sites separated from each other by approximately 30 Å and facing approximately 90˝apart. We show here that introduction of the human Fc domain in PF-06671008 has produced a molecule with an extended half-life (~4.4 days in human FcRn knock-in mice), high stability (T m 1 > 68˝C), high expression (>1 g/L), and robust purification properties (highly pure heterodimer), all with minimal impact on potency. Finally, we demonstrate in vivo anti-tumor efficacy in a human colorectal/human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) co-mix xenograft mouse model. These results suggest PF-06671008 is a promising new bispecific for the treatment of patients with solid tumors expressing P-cadherin.

For an antibody to be a successful therapeutic many competing factors require optimization, including binding affinity, biophysical characteristics, and immunogenicity risk. Additional constraints may arise from the need to formulate antibodies at high concentrations (>150 mg/ml) to enable subcutaneous dosing with reasonable volume (ideally <1.0 mL). Unfortunately, antibodies at high concentrations may exhibit high viscosities that place impractical constraints (such as multiple injections or large needle diameters) on delivery and impede efficient manufacturing. Here we describe the optimization of an anti-PDGF-BB antibody to reduce viscosity, enabling an increase in the formulated concentration from 80 mg/ml to greater than 160 mg/ml, while maintaining the binding affinity. We performed two rounds of structure guided rational design to optimize the surface electrostatic properties. Analysis of this set demonstrated that a net-positive charge change, and disruption of negative charge patches were associated with decreased viscosity, but the effect was greatly dependent on the local surface environment. Our work here provides a comprehensive study exploring a wide sampling of charge-changes in the Fv and CDR regions along with targeting multiple negative charge patches. In total, we generated viscosity measurements for 40 unique antibody variants with full sequence information which provides a significantly larger and more complete dataset than has previously been reported.

The interaction of rhodopsin and transducin has been the focus of study for more than 30 years, but only recently have efforts to purify an activated complex in detergent solution materialized. These efforts have used native rhodopsin isolated from bovine retina and employed either sucrose density gradient centrifugation or size exclusion chromatography to purify the complex. While there is general agreement on most properties of the activated complex, subunit stoichiometry is not yet settled, with rhodopsin/transducin molar ratios of both 2/1 and 1/1 reported. In this report, we introduce methods for preparation of the complex that include use of recombinant rhodopsin, so as to take advantage of mutations that confer constitutive activity and enhanced thermal stability on the protein, and immunoaffinity chromatography for purification of the complex. We show that chromatography on ConA-Sepharose can substitute for the immunoaffinity column, and that bicelles can be used instead of detergent solution. We demonstrate the following: that rhodopsin has a covalently bound all-trans-retinal chromophore and therefore corresponds to the active metarhodopin II state; that transducin has an empty nucleotide-binding pocket; that the isolated complex is active and dissociates upon addition of guanine nucleotide; and finally that the stoichiometry corresponds reproducibly to a 1/1 molar ratio of rhodopsin to transducin.

Activation of a G-protein-coupled receptor involves changes in specific microdomain interactions within the transmembrane region of the receptor. Here, we have focused on the role of L207, proximal to the DRY motif of the human cannabinoid receptor 1 in the interconversion of the receptor resting and active states. Ligand binding analysis of the mutant receptor L207A revealed an enhanced affinity for agonists (three- to six-fold) and a diminished affinity for inverse agonists (19- to 35-fold) compared to the wild-type receptor, properties characteristic of constitutive activity. To further examine whether this mutant adopts a ligand-independent, active form, treatment with GTPgammaS was used to inhibit G protein coupling. Under these conditions, the L207A receptor exhibited a 10-fold increase in affinity for the inverse agonist SR141716A, consistent with a shift away from an enhanced precoupled state. Analysis of the cellular activity of the L207A receptor showed elevated basal cyclic AMP accumulation relative to the wild type that is inhibited by SR141716A, consistent with receptor-mediated Gs precoupling. Using toxins to selectively abrogate Gs or Gi coupling, we found that CP55940 nonetheless induced only a Gi response suggesting a strong preference of this ligand-bound form for Gi in this system. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the single residue change of L207A impacts the association of TM3 and TM6 in the receptor by altering hydrophobic interactions involving L207, the salt bridge involving the Arg of the DRY motif, and the helical structure of TM6, consistent with events leading to activation. The structural alterations parallel those observed in models of a mutant CB(1) receptor T210I, with established constitutive activity (D'Antona, A.M., Ahn, K.H. and Kendall, D.A., 2006. Mutations of CB1 T210 produce active and inactive receptor forms: correlations with ligand affinity, receptor stability, and cellular localization. Biochemistry, 45, 5606-5617).