4. Low molecular weight and non-peptide signaling
molecules.
Since the 1970s peptides and proteins
ACh
Adrenaline
5. 1930 Substance P
Most drugs natural (mainly plant) products.
Very few peptides or acted through peptide signaling
systems.
Methodology required to study peptides -
HPLC, HPTLC,
Solid-phase peptide synthesis, and
Radioimmunoassay and immunocytochemistry
6. The Beginnings
Dr. Vincent du Vigneaud
• Pioneer in peptide pharmacology.
• Nobel prize in Chemistry for
elucidating the structure of and later
synthesizing OXYTOCIN - 1955.
• Vasopressin.
• Disulphide bonds in insulin
structure.
7. Progress
1930s Bradykinin, Substance P and Angiotensin
Angiotensin (octapeptide) 1957
Bradykinin (nonapeptide) 1960
Substance P (undecapeptide) 1970
Endothelin (21 aminoacids) fully characterised, synthesised
and cloned in 1988
8. Protein mediators (cytokines and growth factors) containing 50 or more
residues are still difficult to synthesize chemically.
Molecular biology in the form of Recombinant DNA technology – an
harbinger of peptide revolution.
10. Terminology
Peptides (from Gr. "digested") short chains of amino acid
monomers linked by peptide (amide) bonds, the covalent chemical
bonds formed when the carboxyl group of one amino acid reacts with
the amino group of another.
Polypeptide long, continuous, and unbranched peptide chain
11. Protein and peptide mediators 3 to 200 residues
Difference between peptides and proteins arbitrary dividing
line of 50 amino acid residues
12.
13. Classification
1. Ribosomal peptides
synthesized by translation of mRNA
subjected to proteolysis to generate the mature form
posttranslational modifications
2. Non – ribosomal peptides
assembled by enzymes that are specific to each peptide
e.g.: glutathione, cyclosporine
14. Peptide mediators :
1. Neurotransmitters and neuroendocrine mediators
2. Hormones from non-neural sources:
a) Plasma-derived peptides, notably angiotensin and bradykinin,
b) substances such as insulin, endothelin, atrial natriuretic peptide and leptin
3. Growth factors: produced by many different cells and tissues that
control cell growth and differentiation
4. Mediators of the immune system (cytokines and chemokines)
15. The distinction between neuropeptides and peripherally acting hormones is
useful but not absolute.
Thus the incretins and insulin, angiotensin, atrial natriuretic peptide and
oxytocin are best known as hormones that are formed, released and act in
the periphery.
They are, however, also found in the brain, although their role there is
uncertain.
Similarly, endothelin was first discovered in blood vessels but is now known
to occur extensively in the brain as well.
16. The neuropeptide concept
Peptides produced in brain and gut have direct effect on central and
peripheral neurons.
90 genes have been identified which code >100 neuropeptides
Many of them coexist with the classical neurotransmitters ( Adr, Ach,
GABA).
18. Neuropeptide receptors and Second Messenger Systems
1. GPCRs >80% of neuropeptides are coupled to G-proteins
and stimulate cAMP formation.
2. PIP – IP3 pathway.
TSH
Bombesin
Vasopressin
GnRH
21. Vesicles are loaded with peptide precursors in the cell body, the active
peptides being generated within the vesicles as they move to the nerve
terminals.
Vesicles for neuropeptides are called LDCVs
Following exocytosis, the vesicles cannot be reloaded in situ.
Transmitter turnover is therefore less rapid and recapture of the
released transmitter does not occur
22. Effects – excitatory/inhibitory and presynaptic/postsynaptic.
Endogenous peptides rarely activate ligand-gated ion channels.
[Some spider venom peptides, for example, produce pain by activating the ion-
channel linked capsaicin receptor TRPV1]
Peptides are much more susceptible to evolutionary change than are the
structures of non-peptide mediators.
e.g.: GnRH, Insulin in mammals
23. Co-transmitters
Two well-documented examples :-
The parasympathetic nerves innervating the salivary glands (where the secretory
response is produced by acetylcholine and the vasodilatation partly by vasoactive
intestinal peptide) and
The sympathetic innervation to many tissues, which releases the vasoconstrictor
neuropeptide Y in addition to noradrenaline (norepinephrine).
24. Peptide precursors
Peptide synthesis begins with the manufacture of a precursor protein in which
the peptide sequence is embedded, along with specific proteolytic enzymes that
excise the active peptide.
Preprohormone:
Signal peptide
Prohormone
25.
26.
27. Diversity within peptide families
Peptides commonly occur in families with similar or related sequences and
actions.
Opioid peptides, defined as peptides with opiate-like pharmacological effects,
are coded by three distinct genes whose products are, respectively,
prepro-opiomelanocortin (POMC),
preproenkephalin and
preprodynorphin.
Each of these precursors contains the sequences of a number of opioid peptides
28. Family Peptides
POMC family ACTH, MSH, Opiates, β-lipotropin, β-
endorphin
Bombesin like peptides Bombesin, Gastrin-releasing peptide,
Meuromedin B, Rantensin
Calcitonin gene related peptides Calcitonin, CGRP
CCK like peptides Gastrin, CCK
Enkephalins Met-enkephalins, Leu-enkephalins,
Dynorphin
Glucagon, Secretin family Glucagon, secretin, VIP, GIP, GHRH, PHI,
PACAP
Glycoprotein hormones TSH, FSH, LH, HCG
29. Family Peptides
Oxytocin, Vasopressin Oxytocin, Vasopressin, Vasotocin
Pancreatic polypeptides Pancreatic polypeptide, Neuropeptide Y,
Peptide YY
Somatotropin Growth hormone, prolactin
Tachykinins Substance P, Neurokinin A, Neurokinin B
Insulin-like Growth Factors Insulin, IGF-I & IGF-II, Relaxin
Neurotensin family Neurotensin, Neuromedin, Angiotensin II
31. Many of the proteins currently in therapeutic use functional human
proteins prepared by recombinant technology, which are used to
supplement the action of endogenous mediators.
1. Insulin
2. Growth hormone
3. ACTH
4. Erythopoetin
5. GM-CSF
32. Despite the large number of known peptide mediators, only a few peptides, mostly close
analogues of endogenous mediators, are currently useful as drugs.
In most cases, peptides make poor drugs, because:
- They are poorly absorbed when given orally
- They have a short duration of action because of rapid degradation in vivo
- They do not predictably cross the blood-brain barrier
- They are expensive and difficult to manufacture
- They may be immunogenic.
Smaller peptides are used therapeutically mainly when there is simply no viable alternative
34. Peptide antagonists
They can peptide or non-peptide molecules.
Substitution into endogenous peptides of unnatural amino acids, such as D-amino
acids.
'peptoids' have been produced by modifying the peptide backbone, while retaining
as far as possible the disposition of the side-chain groups that are responsible for
binding to the receptor.
random screening of large compound libraries
35. The most important peptide receptor antagonists in clinical use :-
Naloxone, Naltrexone (μ-opioid receptors): used to antagonise opiate
effects
Losartan, Valsartan, etc. (angiotensin AT1 receptors)
Bosentan (endothelin ET1/ET2 receptors)
Atosiban (Oxytocin antagonist)
Aprepitant (substance P antagonist)
Ganirelix, Cetrorelix etc (GnRH antagonists)
38. Techniques for Identification
1. Bioassay
Insulin
Endogenous opioids
2. Cytochemical assay
Coloured precipitate formed d/t hormone dependant intracellular reaction
detedted by microspectrometry & microdensitometry
39. 3. Radioimmunoassay (RIA)
4. Immunocytochemistry
5. Immediate early genes
6. Autoradiography
7. InSitu Hybridization and Histochemistry- mRNA concentrations for that
particular peptide
40. Tools for isolation and characterization
1. Capillary electrophoresis
2. Immunofluorescence
3. Fast atom bombardment spectrometry
4. LC-MS
5. MALDI-TOF MS
41. Peptidomics
Refers to the techniques that permit quantitative determination of
the peptide content of whole cells.
This novel concept aims at the comprehensive visualization and
analysis of small polypeptides.