Abstract
Background and Purpose: Allosteric sites on G Protein-Coupled Receptors
have become increasingly popular drug targets as they can lead to the
development of more selective compounds. An example is the D2 receptor,
a validated drug target for numerous anti-psychotic drugs. In this
study, we sought to gain a better understanding of the relationship
between allosteric ligands and different orthosteric compounds. We
investigated the UCB compound, a PAM-antagonist when treated with
Dopamine, to see if it exhibits probe dependence and compared against
other signalling pathways in relation to the allosteric site to gain
insight into the improved design of a more selective D2R allosteric
modulator. Experimental Approach: Dopamine, Quinpirole and Rotigotine
were tested with/without the UCB compound. Forskolin-induced cAMP
accumulation, Gi2 protein activation and β-arrestin2 protein recruitment
real-time signalling pathways were assessed through transient
transfection with the appropriate biosensors in HEK293 cells. Key
Results: The UCB compound behaved as an allosteric antagonist with
Quinpirole/Rotigotine in cAMP accumulation assays. However, in the
β-arrestin2 protein recruitment assays, the UCB compound behaved as a
PAM with all three agonists. Conclusions and Implications: The movement
of the indole moiety of the UCB compound towards TM2 is important as it
caused the switch from PAM-antagonism to antagonism in Forskolin-induced
cAMP accumulation assays and a PAM in the β-arrestin2 protein
recruitment assays. This provides insight to the functional groups
required of a D2R allosteric modulator to interact with TM2. These
findings may contribute towards the design of selective allosteric drugs
targeting the D2R.