scholarly journals Latest update on chemokine receptors as therapeutic targets

Author(s):  
Wing Yee Lai ◽  
Anja Mueller

The chemokine system plays a fundamental role in a diverse range of physiological processes, such as homeostasis and immune responses. Dysregulation in the chemokine system has been linked to inflammatory diseases and cancer, which renders chemokine receptors to be considered as therapeutic targets. In the past two decades, around 45 drugs targeting chemokine receptors have been developed, yet only three are clinically approved. The challenging factors include the limited understanding of aberrant chemokine signalling in malignant diseases, high redundancy of the chemokine system, differences between cell types and non-specific binding of the chemokine receptor antagonists due to the broad ligand-binding pockets. In recent years, emerging studies attempt to characterise the chemokine ligand–receptor interactions and the downstream signalling protein–protein interactions, aiming to fine tuning to the promiscuous interplay of the chemokine system for the development of precision medicine. This review will outline the updates on the mechanistic insights in the chemokine system and propose some potential strategies in the future development of targeted therapy.

Author(s):  
Philipp von Hundelshausen ◽  
Kanin Wichapong ◽  
Hans-Joachim Gabius ◽  
Kevin H. Mayo

AbstractTrafficking of leukocytes and their local activity profile are of pivotal importance for many (patho)physiological processes. Fittingly, microenvironments are complex by nature, with multiple mediators originating from diverse cell types and playing roles in an intimately regulated manner. To dissect aspects of this complexity, effectors are initially identified and structurally characterized, thus prompting familial classification and establishing foci of research activity. In this regard, chemokines present themselves as role models to illustrate the diversification and fine-tuning of inflammatory processes. This in turn discloses the interplay among chemokines, their cell receptors and cognate glycosaminoglycans, as well as their capacity to engage in new molecular interactions that form hetero-oligomers between themselves and other classes of effector molecules. The growing realization of versatility of adhesion/growth-regulatory galectins that bind to glycans and proteins and their presence at sites of inflammation led to testing the hypothesis that chemokines and galectins can interact with each other by protein–protein interactions. In this review, we present some background on chemokines and galectins, as well as experimental validation of this chemokine–galectin heterodimer concept exemplified with CXCL12 and galectin-3 as proof-of-principle, as well as sketch out some emerging perspectives in this arena.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 767-781
Author(s):  
Vanessa Pinatto Gaspar ◽  
Anelise Cardoso Ramos ◽  
Philippe Cloutier ◽  
José Renato Pattaro Junior ◽  
Francisco Ferreira Duarte Junior ◽  
...  

KIN (Kin17) protein is overexpressed in a number of cancerous cell lines, and is therefore considered a possible cancer biomarker. It is a well-conserved protein across eukaryotes and is ubiquitously expressed in all cell types studied, suggesting an important role in the maintenance of basic cellular function which is yet to be well determined. Early studies on KIN suggested that this nuclear protein plays a role in cellular mechanisms such as DNA replication and/or repair; however, its association with chromatin depends on its methylation state. In order to provide a better understanding of the cellular role of this protein, we investigated its interactome by proximity-dependent biotin identification coupled to mass spectrometry (BioID-MS), used for identification of protein–protein interactions. Our analyses detected interaction with a novel set of proteins and reinforced previous observations linking KIN to factors involved in RNA processing, notably pre-mRNA splicing and ribosome biogenesis. However, little evidence supports that this protein is directly coupled to DNA replication and/or repair processes, as previously suggested. Furthermore, a novel interaction was observed with PRMT7 (protein arginine methyltransferase 7) and we demonstrated that KIN is modified by this enzyme. This interactome analysis indicates that KIN is associated with several cell metabolism functions, and shows for the first time an association with ribosome biogenesis, suggesting that KIN is likely a moonlight protein.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Humza A. Khan ◽  
Manish J. Butte

Abstract Background Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are a group of genetic disorders that impair the immune system, with over 400 genes described so far, and hundreds more to be discovered. To facilitate the search for new genes, we need a way to prioritize among all the genes in the genome those most likely to play an important role in immunity. Results Here we identify a new list of genes by linking known IEI genes to new ones by using open-source databases of protein-protein interactions, post-translational modifications, and transcriptional regulation. We analyze this new set of 2,530 IEI-related genes for their tolerance of genetic variation and by their expression levels in various immune cell types. Conclusions By merging genes derived from protein interactions of known IEI genes with transcriptional data, we offer a new list of candidate genes that may play a role in as-yet undiscovered IEIs.


BioTechniques ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-241
Author(s):  
Abigail Sawyer

There are up to 650,000 ‘undruggable’ protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in the human interactome that can be potentially considered as novel therapeutic targets. How does the ‘undruggable’ become ‘druggable’?


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (21) ◽  
pp. 6367
Author(s):  
Luis H. Gutiérrez-González ◽  
Selma Rivas-Fuentes ◽  
Silvia Guzmán-Beltrán ◽  
Angélica Flores-Flores ◽  
Jorge Rosas-García ◽  
...  

PDZ (postsynaptic density (PSD95), discs large (Dlg), and zonula occludens (ZO-1)-dependent interactions are widely distributed within different cell types and regulate a variety of cellular processes. To date, some of these interactions have been identified as targets of small molecules or peptides, mainly related to central nervous system disorders and cancer. Recently, the knowledge of PDZ proteins and their interactions has been extended to various cell types of the immune system, suggesting that their targeting by viral pathogens may constitute an immune evasion mechanism that favors viral replication and dissemination. Thus, the pharmacological modulation of these interactions, either with small molecules or peptides, could help in the control of some immune-related diseases. Deeper structural and functional knowledge of this kind of protein–protein interactions, especially in immune cells, will uncover novel pharmacological targets for a diversity of clinical conditions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhui Lim ◽  
Nicolas Boyer ◽  
Nicole Boo ◽  
Chunhui Huang ◽  
Gireedhar Venkatachalam ◽  
...  

Macrocyclic peptides have the potential to address intracellular protein-protein interactions (PPIs) of high value therapeutic targets that have proven largely intractable to small molecules. Here, we report broadly applicable lessons...


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig H. Kerr ◽  
Michael A. Skinnider ◽  
Angel M. Madero ◽  
Daniel D.T. Andrews ◽  
R. Greg Stacey ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe type I interferon (IFN) response is an ancient pathway that protects cells against viral pathogens by inducing the transcription of hundreds of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs). Transcriptomic and biochemical approaches have established comprehensive catalogues of ISGs across species and cell types, but their antiviral mechanisms remain incompletely characterized. Here, we apply a combination of quantitative proteomic approaches to delineate the effects of IFN signalling on the human proteome, culminating in the use of protein correlation profiling to map IFN-induced rearrangements in the human protein-protein interaction network.ResultsWe identified >27,000 protein interactions in IFN-stimulated and unstimulated cells, many of which involve proteins associated with human disease and are observed exclusively within the IFN-stimulated network. Differential network analysis reveals interaction rewiring across a surprisingly broad spectrum of cellular pathways in the antiviral response. We identify IFN-dependent protein-protein interactions mediating novel regulatory mechanisms at the transcriptional and translational levels, with one such interaction modulating the transcriptional activity of STAT1. Moreover, we reveal IFN-dependent changes in ribosomal composition that act to buffer ISG protein synthesis.ConclusionsOur map of the IFN interactome provides a global view of the complex cellular networks activated during the antiviral response, placing ISGs in a functional context, and serves as a framework to understand how these networks are dysregulated in autoimmune or inflammatory disease.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 4375
Author(s):  
Muriel Bonnet ◽  
Nicolas Kaspric ◽  
Kimberly Vonnahme ◽  
Didier Viala ◽  
Christophe Chambon ◽  
...  

Crosstalk between adipose and muscular tissues is hypothesized to regulate the number of muscular and adipose cells during fetal growth, with post-natal consequences on lean and fat masses. Such crosstalk largely remains, however, to be described. We hypothesized that a characterization of the proteomes of adipose and muscular tissues from bovine fetuses may enhance the understanding of the crosstalk between these tissues through the prediction of their secretomes and surfaceomes. Proteomic experiments have identified 751 and 514 proteins in fetal adipose tissue and muscle. These are mainly involved in the regulation of cell proliferation or differentiation, but also in pathways such as apoptosis, Wnt signalling, or cytokine-mediated signalling. Of the identified proteins, 51 adipokines, 11 myokines, and 37 adipomyokines were predicted, together with 26 adipose and 13 muscular cell surface proteins. Analysis of protein–protein interactions suggested 13 links between secreted and cell surface proteins that may contribute to the adipose–muscular crosstalk. Of these, an interaction between the adipokine plasminogen and the muscular cell surface alpha-enolase may regulate the fetal myogenesis. The in silico secretome and surfaceome analyzed herein exemplify a powerful strategy to enhance the elucidation of the crosstalk between cell types or tissues.


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