Structure-Based Discovery of New Antagonist and Biased Agonist Chemotypes for the Kappa Opioid Receptor.

Abstract

The ongoing epidemics of opioid overdose raises an urgent need for effective antiaddiction therapies and addiction-free painkillers. The κ-opioid receptor (KOR) has emerged as a promising target for both indications, raising demand for new chemotypes of KOR antagonists as well as G-protein-biased agonists. We employed the crystal structure of the KOR-JDTic complex and ligand-optimized structural templates to perform virtual screening of available compound libraries for new KOR ligands. The prospective virtual screening campaign yielded a high 32% hit rate, identifying novel fragment-like and lead-like chemotypes of KOR ligands. A round of optimization resulted in 11 new submicromolar KOR binders (best Ki = 90 nM). Functional assessment confirmed at least two compounds as potent KOR antagonists, while compound 81 was identified as a potent Gi biased agonist for KOR with minimal β-arrestin recruitment. These results support virtual screening as an effective tool for discovery of new lead chemotypes with therapeutically relevant functional profiles.