2. Academic Validation
  3. Multiple Allosteric Sites Allow for Synergistic Enhancement of GPCR Signaling

Multiple Allosteric Sites Allow for Synergistic Enhancement of GPCR Signaling

  • bioRxiv. 2025 Oct 22:2025.10.21.683604. doi: 10.1101/2025.10.21.683604.
Kai Wang,  Snezana T Dimova,  John N Hanson,  Abhishek Thakur,  Youwei Xu,  Yini Liu,  Amy E Moritz,  Alexander Goldberg,  Bing Xie,  Jayachandra Rayadurgam,  Feijun Wang,  Ashley N Nilson,  Kathryn D Luderman,  R Benjamin Free,  Wen Hu,  Jian Zhang,  H Eric Xu,  Kevin J Frankowski,  Yue Wang,  Lei Shi,  David R Sibley,  Youwen Zhuang
PMID: 41279490 DOI: 10.1101/2025.10.21.683604
Abstract

Allosteric modulation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is an emerging therapeutic paradigm that has proven effective, yet the cooperative action of multiple modulators remains unexplored. Here, we reveal how positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) synergistically enable extraordinary signal amplification through the D 1 Dopamine Receptor (D1R). We developed UNC9815 and UNC10062 as enhanced D1R PAMs from the parent compound MLS6585, and then employed cryo-electron microscopy to reveal concurrent occupancy of three distinct allosteric sites by PAMs of different scaffolds, including LY3154207, BMS-A1, and our UNC compounds. Remarkably, we discovered two adjacent allosteric pockets at the transmembrane helix (TM) 1-7 interface: BMS-A1 occupies an intracellular site promoting activation through TM7 conformational shifts, while the UNC compounds complementarily stabilize the extracellular side of the interface. When combined with LY3154207, this cooperative architecture enhances dopamine potency by more than 1,000-fold. These findings elucidate the first structural blueprint for multi-site GPCR cooperativity, unlocking transformative therapeutic strategies inaccessible to orthosteric and single- site allosteric drugs.

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