Insulin-like growth factor receptor

Insulin-like growth factor receptors (IGFR) are transmembrane receptors which are stimulated by insulin-like growth factors (IGF). IGFR contains 2 extracellular α chains and 2 transmembranal β chains. Upon binding of IGF, a tyrosine in the β chain becomes autophosphorylated and triggers a cascade of intracellular signaling.

Memory-Enhancement by Traditional Chinese Medicine? ^[1]

Cognitive impairment is an emerging issue and increasing research points to the significant role of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in cognitive brain functions. (IGF-IR, PDB ID: 3i81, colored in darkmagenta) activation is critical for IGF-I to elicit desirable cognitive functions. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ligands (orgin: Isatisin digotica, colored in green), (origin: Lindera aggregate, colored in deeppink), and (origin: Nelumbonucifera Gaertn, colored in salmon) showed high binding affinity towards IGF-IR at the binding site defined by the control in PDB ID: 3i81. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the TCM ligands were secured at the opening of the IGF-IR binding site for the duration of the MD. was stabilized by , was stabilized by , and was stabilized by (key residues are colored in yellow). Four different quantitative-structure activity relationship models consistently predicted bioactivity of the TCM ligands towards IGF-IR. In summary, the TCM candidates exhibit drug-like potential in both structural-based and ligand-based properties and may have potential for further applications in enhancing cognition.