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Publication Abstract from PubMed

Leptin regulates energy homeostasis, fertility, and the immune system, making it an important drug target. However, due to a complete lack of structural data for the obesity receptor (ObR), leptin's mechanism of receptor activation remains poorly understood. We have crystallized the Fab fragment of a leptin-blocking monoclonal antibody (9F8), both in its uncomplexed state and bound to the leptin-binding domain (LBD) of human ObR. We describe the structure of the LBD-9F8 Fab complex and the conformational changes in 9F8 associated with LBD binding. A molecular model of the putative leptin-LBD complex reveals that 9F8 Fab blocks leptin binding through only a small (10%) overlap in their binding sites, and that leptin binding is likely to involve an induced fit mechanism. This crystal structure of the leptin-binding domain of the obesity receptor will facilitate the design of therapeutics to modulate leptin signaling.

Structure of the human obesity receptor leptin-binding domain reveals the mechanism of leptin antagonism by a monoclonal antibody.,Carpenter B, Hemsworth GR, Wu Z, Maamra M, Strasburger CJ, Ross RJ, Artymiuk PJ Structure. 2012 Mar 7;20(3):487-97. PMID:22405007^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.