Bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) is a biophysical technique used to monitor proximity within live cells. BRET exploits the naturally occurring phenomenon of dipole-dipole energy transfer from a donor enzyme (luciferase) to an acceptor fluorophore following enzyme-mediated oxidation of a substrate. This results in production of a quantifiable signal that denotes proximity between proteins and/or molecules tagged with complementary luciferase and fluorophore partners. BRET assays have been used to observe an array of biological functions including ligand binding, intracellular signaling, receptor-receptor proximity, and receptor trafficking, however, BRET assays can theoretically be used to monitor the proximity of any protein or molecule for which appropriate fusion constructs and/or fluorophore conjugates can be produced. Over the years, new luciferases and approaches have been developed that have increased the potential applications for BRET assays. In particular, the development of the small, bright and stable Nanoluciferase (NanoLuc; Nluc) and its use in NanoBRET has vastly broadened the potential applications of BRET assays. These advances have exciting potential to produce new experimental methods to monitor protein-protein interactions (PPIs), protein-ligand interactions, and/or molecular proximity. In addition to NanoBRET, Nluc has also been exploited to produce NanoBiT technology, which further broadens the scope of BRET to monitor biological function when NanoBiT is combined with an acceptor. BRET has proved to be a powerful tool for monitoring proximity and interaction, and these recent advances further strengthen its utility for a range of applications.

The orexin system comprises two G protein-coupled receptors, OX1 and OX2 receptors (OX1R and OX2R, respectively), along with two endogenous agonists cleaved from a common precursor (prepro-orexin), orexin-A (OX-A) and orexin-B (OX-B). For the receptors, a complex array of signaling behaviors has been reported. In particular, it becomes obvious that orexin receptor coupling is very diverse and can be tissue-, cell- and context-dependent. Here, the early signal transduction interactions of the orexin receptors will be discussed in depth, with particular emphasis on the direct G protein interactions of each receptor. In doing so, it is evident that ligands, additional receptor-protein interactions and cellular environment all play important roles in the G protein coupling profiles of the orexin receptors. This has potential implications for our understanding of the orexin system’s function in vivo in both central and peripheral environments, as well as the development of novel agonists, antagonists and possibly allosteric modulators targeting the orexin system.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are capable of interacting to form higher order structures such as homomers and heteromers. Heteromerisation in particular has implications for receptor function, with research showing receptors can attain unique expression, ligand binding, signalling and intracellular trafficking upon heteromerisation. As such, GPCR heteromers represent novel drug targets with extensive therapeutic potential. Changes to ligand affinity, efficacy and G protein coupling have all been described, with alterations to these pharmacological aspects now well accepted as common traits for heteromeric complexes. Changes in internalisation and trafficking kinetics, as well as β-arrestin interactions are also becoming more apparent, however, few studies to date have explicitly looked at the implications these factors have upon the signalling profile of a heteromer. Development of ligands to target GPCR heteromers both experimentally and therapeutically has been mostly concentrated on bivalent ligands due to difficulties in identifying and developing heteromer-specific ligands. Improving our understanding of the pharmacology and physiology of GPCR heteromers will enable further development of heteromer-specific ligands with potential to provide therapeutics with increased efficacy and decreased side effects.

CXCL17 is the most recently described chemokine. It is principally expressed by mucosal tissues, where it facilitates chemotaxis of monocytes, dendritic cells, and macrophages and has antimicrobial properties. CXCL17 is also implicated in the pathology of inflammatory disorders and progression of several cancers, as well as being highly upregulated during viral infections of the lung. However, the exact role of CXCL17 in health and disease is largely unknown, mainly due to a lack of known molecular targets mediating CXCL17 functional responses. Using a range of bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) based assays, here we demonstrate that CXCL17 inhibits CXCR4-mediated signalling and ligand binding. Moreover, CXCL17 interacts with neuropillin-1, a VEGFR2 co-receptor. Additionally, we find CXCL17 only inhibits CXCR4 ligand binding in intact cells and demonstrate that this effect is mimicked by known glycosaminoglycan binders, surfen and protamine sulfate. This indicates that CXCL17 inhibits CXCR4 by a unique mechanism of action that potentially requires the presence of a glycosaminoglycan containing accessory protein. Altogether, our results reveal that CXCL17 is an endogenous inhibitor of CXCR4 and represents an important discovery in our understanding of the (patho) physiological functions of CXCL17 and regulation of CXCR4 signalling.

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