From biased signalling to polypharmacology: unlocking unique intracellular signalling using pepducins

Biochem Soc Trans. 2016 Apr 15;44(2):555-61. doi: 10.1042/BST20150230.

Abstract

For over a decade, pepducins have been utilized to develop unique pharmacological profiles that have been particularly challenging for traditional drug discovery methods. It is becoming increasingly clear that these cell-penetrating lipopeptides can access receptor conformations that are currently not accessible through orthosteric targeting. This review addresses the emerging concepts in the development of pepducins including the elicitation of biased signalling, pepducin polypharmacology and recent insight into their mechanism of action.

Keywords: G protein-coupled receptors; biased signalling; drug discovery; pepducins; polypharmacology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Peptides / pharmacology*
  • Polypharmacology*
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / chemistry*
  • Signal Transduction*

Substances

  • Peptides
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled