Structure-Based Design of Potent and Selective Ligands at the Four Adenosine Receptors

Jespers, WillemOliveira, AnaPrieto Díaz, RubénMajellaro, MaríaÅqvist, JohanSotelo Pérez, EddyGutiérrez de Terán, Hugo2020-11-022020-11-022017Jespers, W.; Oliveira, A.; Prieto-Díaz, R.; Majellaro, M.; Åqvist, J.; Sotelo, E.; Gutiérrez-de-Terán, H. Structure-Based Design of Potent and Selective Ligands at the Four Adenosine Receptors. Molecules 2017, 22, 1945http://hdl.handle.net/10347/23519The four receptors that signal for adenosine, A1, A2A, A2B and A3 ARs, belong to the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). They mediate a number of (patho)physiological functions and have attracted the interest of the biopharmaceutical sector for decades as potential drug targets. The many crystal structures of the A2A, and lately the A1 ARs, allow for the use of advanced computational, structure-based ligand design methodologies. Over the last decade, we have assessed the efficient synthesis of novel ligands specifically addressed to each of the four ARs. We herein review and update the results of this program with particular focus on molecular dynamics (MD) and free energy perturbation (FEP) protocols. The first in silico mutagenesis on the A1AR here reported allows understanding the specificity and high affinity of the xanthine-antagonist 8-Cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX). On the A2AAR, we demonstrate how FEP simulations can distinguish the conformational selectivity of a recent series of partial agonists. These novel results are complemented with the revision of the first series of enantiospecific antagonists on the A2BAR, and the use of FEP as a tool for bioisosteric design on the A3AReng© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Atribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Free energy perturbation (FEP)G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)Molecular dynamics (MD) simulationsStructure-based drug design (SBDD)Structure-Based Design of Potent and Selective Ligands at the Four Adenosine Receptorsjournal article10.3390/molecules221119451420-3049open access