Orphan G Protein-Coupled Receptors and Novel Neuropeptides
Over the last decade it has been shown that orphan G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can be used as targets to discover novel neuropeptides. A dozen neuropeptides have been identified through this approach. Each of these neuropeptides has opened new doo
- PDF / 7,108,857 Bytes
- 266 Pages / 439 x 666 pts Page_size
- 67 Downloads / 200 Views
46
Dietmar Richter Center for Molecular Neurobiology University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) University of Hamburg Martinistrasse 52 20246 Hamburg Germany [email protected]
Henri Tiedge The Robert F. Furchgott Center for Neural and Behavioral Science Department of Physiology and Pharmacology Department of Neurology SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn Brooklyn, New York 11203 USA [email protected]
Series Editors D. Richter, H. Tiedge
Olivier Civelli, Qun-Yong Zhou (Eds.)
OrphanGProtein-Coupled Receptors and Novel Neuropeptides
123
Prof. Dr. Olivier Civelli Prof. Dr. Qun-Yong Zhou Department of Pharmacology School of Medicine 369 Med Surge II UC Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-4625 USA [email protected] [email protected]
ISBN 978-3-540-78350-3 DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-78351-0
e-ISBN 978-3-540-78351-0
Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation ISSN 0080-1844 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008926906 c 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: WMXDesign GmbH, Heidelberg Typesetting and Production: le-tex publishing services oHG, Leipzig Printed on acid-free paper 9876543210 springer.com
Introduction
Most of the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) started as “orphans”: receptors for which natural ligands are unknown. Orphan GPCRs are older than many researchers believe, they have actually been with us since 1987. The first was reported as a putative receptor called G-21, later found to be the serotonin 5-HT-1a receptor. Indeed, G-21 had all of the advantages and disadvantages that characterized the orphan GPCRs that followed. They are exciting for researchers because they offer novelty to basic and potential to applied researches. At the same time they are annoying for the researcher because they cannot be used in pharmacological assays for lack of a natural ligand. In spite of this, orphan GPCRs have gone far, they have been found in large numbers— more than any other gene family—and many have been “deorphanized”, i.e., matched to their natural ligands. It is noteworthy that only one year passed between the report of the first orphan GPCR and its deorphanization and that this was paralleled by the concomitant deorphanization of unrelated
Data Loading...
