Structure-based development of a subtype-selective orexin 1 receptor antagonist
Jan Hellmann, Matthäus Drabek, Jie Yin, Jakub Gunera, Theresa Pröll, Frank Kraus, Christopher J. Langmead, Harald Hübner, Dorothée Weikert, Peter Kolb, Daniel M. Rosenbaum, Peter Gmeiner
Abstract
Significance Orexin receptors belong to the superfamily of G-protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) which represent the largest class of drug targets in humans. Despite the recent progress in structural biology, the development of subtype-selective orexin receptor and GPCR ligands in general remains challenging, due to the high sequence similarity among individual receptor subtypes. However, subtype-selective molecules are key to discerning the individual contributions of receptor subtypes to (patho-)physiology. Starting from the clinically used, non–subtype-selective orexin receptor antagonist suvorexant, we demonstrate how docking, crystallography, medicinal chemistry, and in vitro pharmacology can be combined to exploit single amino acid sequence differences for the discovery of subtype-selective probes. Such compounds will help to better understand orexin receptor pharmacology and develop promising drug candidates.