Antibodies and GPCRs. Are they a versatile tool for GPCR pharmacology studies?

GPCRs are encoded by the human genome, some of them have known ligands available which lead to the corresponding radioligands. However, in most cases they are orphan receptors, which means that no ligands are known, or there are only primary antibodies (Abs) available for their study. When directly labelled or using labelled secondary antibodies (indirect immunofluorescence), primary Abs can be used to detect the GPCRs expression through a wide range of techniques, including immunohistochemistry, proximity ligation assays and immunoblotting.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent the largest protein family encoded by the human genome. Located on the cell membrane, they transduce extracellular signals into key physiological effects.^[1]
Considering this feature, they have become highly studied drug targets.

You may have heard about the patented CryostaX^® format of hepatocyte pellets, but do you know why SEKISUI XenoTech and countless other researchers have made the switch from traditional hepatocyte preparations to pellets? Depending on who you ask the reasons will vary, from the needs of the study to simple convenience. In this post, let’s look at the primary factors so you can see for yourself why you should make the switch.

Even if RNA-based therapeutics have been under development for over 30 years, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that brought them into the limelight, with the rapid development of mRNA-based vaccines against the SARS-Cov2 virus by Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer. And lipid Nanoparticles (LNPs), used to efficiently deliver mRNA, are key players of this technology.