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Papers of the Week


Papers: 18 Dec 2021 - 24 Dec 2021


Pharmacology/Drug Development

PAIN TYPE:
Migraine/Headache


2021 Dec 12


Comput Biol Med


141

Molecular simulations reveal the impact of RAMP1 on ligand binding and dynamics of calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor (CGRPR) heterodimer.

Abstract

Calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor (CGRPR) is a heterodimer protein complex consisting of a class-B G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) named calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CLR) and an accessory protein, receptor activity modifying protein type 1 (RAMP1). Here in this study, with several molecular modeling approaches and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, the structural and dynamical effects of RAMP1 on the binding of small molecule CGRPR inhibitors (namely rimegepant and telcagepant) to the CGRPR extracellular ectodomain complex site (site 1) and transmembrane binding site (site 2) are investigated. Results showed that although these molecules stay stable at site 1, they can also bind to site 2, which may be interpreted as non-specificity of the ligands, however, most of these interactions at transmembrane binding site are not sustainable or are weak. Furthermore, to examine the site 2 for gepant binding, different in silico experiments (i.e., alanine scanning mutagenesis, SiteMap, ligand decomposition binding free energy analyses) are also conducted and the results confirmed the putative binding pocket (site 2) of the gepants at the CGRPRs.