Xiaoting Li, Hao Chang, Jara Bouma, Laura V de Paus, Partha Mukhopadhyay, Janos Paloczi, Mohammed Mustafa, Cas van der Horst, Sanjay Sunil Kumar, Lijie Wu, Yanan Yu, Richard J B H N van den Berg, Antonius P A Janssen, Aron Lichtman, Zhi-Jie Liu, Pal Pacher, Mario van der Stelt, Laura H Heitman, Tian Hua
Cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2 R) agonists are investigated as therapeutic agents in the clinic. However, their molecular mode-of-action is not fully understood. Here, we report the discovery of LEI-102, a CB2 R agonist, used in conjunction with three other CBR ligands (APD371, HU308, and CP55,940) to investigate the selective CB2 R activation by binding kinetics, site-directed mutagenesis, and cryo-EM studies. We identify key residues for CB2 R activation. Highly lipophilic HU308 and the endocannabinoids, but not the more polar LEI-102, APD371, and CP55,940, reach the binding pocket through a membrane channel in TM1-TM7...
March 15, 2023: Nature Communications