Christopher Schafer is an assistant professor of receptor biophysics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam since 2023. He studied physics at Michigan Technological University in the United States. He complete his PhD at Oregon Health and Science University where he studied the pharmacological potential of the visual G protein-coupled receptor rhodopsin. His research group focuses on determining the molecular mechanisms of chemokine receptor activation by endogenous chemokines through a combination of advanced live-cell functional analysis and structural biophysical analyses. The core of this research is a comparison of canonical and atypical chemokine receptors that are naturally activated by the same agonist with different responses, providing a unique platform to interrogate GPCR signal transduction. These efforts have resulted in the first structure of an atypical chemokine receptor and in complex with arrestin effectors. More recently, he has integrated de novo design and structural analyses to develop new biologics targeting the chemokine receptor:chemokine system for crafting immune responses.
Presentation: Unlocking new chemokine receptor pharmacology through de novo protein design
Chemokines and their receptors mediate cell migration and coordinate immune responses, while dysregulation can lead to inflammation. Therapeutic modulation of the chemokine signaling axis has proven difficult. Most drug discovery efforts target the receptors, whereas natural regulatory mechanisms focus on the chemokines. Despite this insight, development of effective chemokine-directed modulators has remained elusive. Recent advances in de novo protein design offer an unprecedented opportunity to produce high-affinity binders that efficiently block protein-protein interactions. We implemented a computational workflow leveraging the BindCraft platform to generate miniprotein binders against CCL25, the chemokine ligand for the receptors CCR9 and ACKR4 and implicated in inflammatory bowel diseases. The unbiased development results in several miniproteins designed to block the receptor N-terminus from wrapping the chemokine and prevent productive engagement. Thus, these proteins suppress CCL25-mediated effector coupling and halt MOLT-4 lymphoblast migration. Another class of miniprotein, represented by VUP25111, is predicted to bind CCL25 along the chemokine β1 strand and retained receptor binding. This complex inhibited arrestin recruitment to CCR9, but not to ACKR4, indicating receptor specificity. Additionally, G protein signaling through CCR9 was unimpeded by VUP25111, suggesting that the miniprotein biased the native balanced agonist towards G proteins. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of differentially targeting CCL25 to suppress CCR9 signaling and new tools to resolve the structural basis of chemokine receptor activation and bias.
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