GPCR-Directed Libraries for High Throughput Screening

Guanine nucleotide binding protein (G-protein) coupled receptors (GPCRs), the largest receptor family, is enormously important for the pharmaceutical industry as they are the target of 50-60% of all existing medicines. Discovery of many new GPCR receptors by the “human genome project”, open up new opportunities for developing novel therapeutics. High throughput screening (HTS) of chemical libraries is a well established method for finding new lead compounds in drug discovery. Despite some success this approach has suffered from the near absence of more focused and specific targeted libraries. To improve the hit rates and to maximally exploit the full potential of current corporate screening collections, in this thesis work, identification and analysis of the critical drug-binding positions within the GPCRs were done, based on their overall sequence, their transmembrane regions and their drug binding fingerprints. A proper classification based on drug binding fingerprints on the basis for a successful pharmacophore modelling and virtual screening were done, which facilities in the development of more specific and focused targeted libraries for HTS