Seven ligands bind to and activate the mammalian epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR/ERBB1/HER1): EGF, transforming growth factor-alpha (TGFA), heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HBEGF), betacellulin (BTC), amphiregulin (AREG), epiregulin (EREG), and epigen (EPGN). Of these, EGF, TGFA, HBEGF, and BTC are thought to be high-affinity ligands, whereas AREG, EREG, and EPGN constitute ...

Cathepsin D (Cat D) is a lysosomal aspartic acid protease encoded by CTSD gene and has significant biological roles such as degradation of extracellular intracellular proteins, regulation apoptosis, hormone processing, antigen processing etc. Furthermore, it overexpressed breast cancer cells acts role in many processes affecting the prognosis metastasis, angiogenesis, invasion, drug resistance ...

Dysregulation of ErbB-family signaling underlies numerous pathologies and has been therapeutically targeted through inhibiting ErbB-receptors themselves or their cognate ligands. For the latter, "decoy" antibodies have been developed to sequester ligands including heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF); however, demonstrating sufficient efficacy has been difficult. Here, we hypothesiz...

In the present study, we combined a powerful and novel receptor binding data analysis technique. Fourier-derived affinity spectrum analysis (FASA), with the nonlinear regression analysis program LIGAND to resolve benzodiazepine receptor heterogeneity in rat spinal cord. With FASA, we identified three distinct [3H]Ro15-1788 binding populations: two high-affinity sites (0.4 and 5 nM) for the radi...

The sigma-2 (σ2) receptor, also known as the Transmembrane Protein 97 (TMEM97, and MAC30 (Meningioma-associated protein), has been linked to a number of conditions are disease states such schizophrenia, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, neuropathic pain. As part or our on-going effort identify novel σ2 ligands, we have identified series novel, functionalized oxazolidin-2-one ...

While extensively used as drugs, small synthetic molecules have not yet been widely applied in the industry as affinity ligands for the purification of biopharmaceuticals. Yet, a substantial amount of published research indicates that synthetic ligands, such as triazine scaffolds, amino acids, and peptides show a great deal of promise for becoming the next generation affinity ligands for biosep...

The purification of recombinant proteins by affinity chromatography is one of the most efficient strategies due to the high recovery yields and purity achieved. However, this is dependent on the availability of specific affinity adsorbents for each particular target protein. The diversity of proteins to be purified augments the complexity and number of specific affinity adsorbents needed, and t...

The activity of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can be modulated by a diverse spectrum of drugs ranging from full agonists to partial agonists, antagonists, and inverse agonists. The vast majority of these ligands compete with native ligands for binding to orthosteric binding sites. Allosteric ligands have also been described for a number of GPCRs. However, little is known about the mechani...

Induced fit is a predominant phenomenon in protein-ligand interactions, yet it is invariably attributed without establishing the existence, let alone the structure, of the initial, low-affinity encounter complex. We determined the crystal structure of the encounter complex on the pathway of ligand binding by IgE antibody SPE7. We show that this complex is formed by a wide range of ligands that ...

Membrane proteins comprise a third of the human genome, yet present challenging targets for reverse chemical genetics. For example, although implicated in numerous diseases including multiple myeloma, the membrane protein caveolin-1 appears to offer a poor target for the discovery of synthetic ligands due to its largely unknown structure and insolubility. To break this impasse and identify new ...