Leiden University Scholarly Publications

Soethoudt, M.; Stolze, S.C.; Westphal, M.V.; Stralen, L. van; Martella, A.; Rooden, E.J. van; ... ; Stelt, M. van der (2018)

A selective photoaffinity probe that enables assessment of cannabinoid CB2 receptor expression and ligand engagement in human cells

Article / Letter to editor

Chemical tools and methods that report on G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) expression levels and receptor occupancy by small molecules are highly desirable. We report the development of LEI121 as a photoreactive probe to study the type 2 cannabinoid receptor (CB2R), a promising GPCR to treat tissue injury and inflammatory diseases. LEI121 is the first CB2R-selective bifunctional probe that covalently captures CB2R upon photoactivation. An incorporated alkyne serves as ligation handle for the introduction of reporter groups. LEI121 enables target engagement studies and visualization of endogenously expressed CB2R in HL-60 as well as primary human immune cells using flow cytometry. Our findings show that strategically functionalized probes allow monitoring of endogenous GPCR expression and engagement in human cells using tandem photo-click chemistry and hold promise as biomarkers in translational drug discovery.

All authors

Soethoudt, M.; Stolze, S.C.; Westphal, M.V.; Stralen, L. van; Martella, A.; Rooden, E.J. van; Guba, W.; Varga, Z.V.; Deng, H.; Kasteren, S.I. van; Grether, U.; IJzerman, A.P.; Pacher, P.; Carreira, E.M.; Overkleeft, H.S.; Heitman, L.H.; Ioan-Facsinay, A.; Stelt, M. van der

Date

2018-02-08

Journal

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Volume

140

Issue

19

Pages

6067 - 6075

DOI

doi:10.1021/jacs.7b11281