Establishiment of a novel assay for activities of heterodimerized receptors and development of ligands specific to the receptors with CellKey assay system.

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25860200
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General pharmacology
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Science
• Principal Investigator: SUDO Yuka 東京理科大学, 薬学部, 助教 (70646695)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: オピオイド / GPCR / カンナビノイド / 二量体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To date, opioid analgesics are often used in the world including Japan for the treatment of severe pain such as cancer pain. However, some patients cannot be obtained sufficient analgesic effects because of the development of tolerance. Accordingly, more effective analgesic therapy without tolerance should be required. Several studies have shown that G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) including opioid receptors are able to form receptor heterodimerization, and heterodimer could represent a functional unit distinct from monomeric receptors. This research thus aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanism of functions of heterodimerized opioid receptors. Using the CellKeyTM assay system, we sought to establish a novel, more accurate and convenient assay for the detection of activities for heterodimerized opioid receptors. By this assay, we have been trying to reveal a novel and different properties of heterodimerized μ/δ receptors other than those of μ or δ receptor alone.

Free Research Field

分子薬理学・分子生物学・代謝学