5xr8

Publication Abstract from PubMed

The cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) is the principal target of the psychoactive constituent of marijuana, the partial agonist Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta9-THC). Here we report two agonist-bound crystal structures of human CB1 in complex with a tetrahydrocannabinol (AM11542) and a hexahydrocannabinol (AM841) at 2.80 A and 2.95 A resolution, respectively. The two CB1-agonist complexes reveal important conformational changes in the overall structure, relative to the antagonist-bound state, including a 53% reduction in the volume of the ligand-binding pocket and an increase in the surface area of the G-protein-binding region. In addition, a 'twin toggle switch' of Phe2003.36 and Trp3566.48 (superscripts denote Ballesteros-Weinstein numbering) is experimentally observed and appears to be essential for receptor activation. The structures reveal important insights into the activation mechanism of CB1 and provide a molecular basis for predicting the binding modes of Delta9-THC, and endogenous and synthetic cannabinoids. The plasticity of the binding pocket of CB1 seems to be a common feature among certain class A G-protein-coupled receptors. These findings should inspire the design of chemically diverse ligands with distinct pharmacological properties.

Crystal structures of agonist-bound human cannabinoid receptor CB1.,Hua T, Vemuri K, Nikas SP, Laprairie RB, Wu Y, Qu L, Pu M, Korde A, Jiang S, Ho JH, Han GW, Ding K, Li X, Liu H, Hanson MA, Zhao S, Bohn LM, Makriyannis A, Stevens RC, Liu ZJ Nature. 2017 Jul 27;547(7664):468-471. doi: 10.1038/nature23272. Epub 2017 Jul 5. PMID:28678776^[2]

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