Biophysical Approaches Facilitate Computational Drug Discovery for ATP-Binding Cassette Proteins

Although membrane proteins represent most therapeutically relevant drug targets, the availability of atomic resolution structures for this class of proteins has been limited. Structural characterization has been hampered by the biophysical nature of these polytopic transporters, receptors, and channels, and recent innovations to in vitro techniques aim to mitigate these challenges. One such class of membrane proteins, the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily, are broadly expressed throughout the human body, required for normal physiology and disease-causing when mutated, yet lacks sufficient structural representation in the Protein Data Bank. However, recent improvements to biophysical techniques (e.g., cryo-electron microscopy) have allowed for previously “hard-to-study” ABC proteins to be characterized at high resolution, providing insight into molecular mechanisms-of-action as well as revealing novel druggable sites for therapy design. These new advances provide ample opportunity for computational methods (e.g., virtual screening, molecular dynamics simulations, and structure-based drug design) to catalyze the discovery of novel small molecule therapeutics that can be easily translated from computer to bench and subsequently to the patient's bedside. In this review, we explore the utility of recent advances in biophysical methods coupled with well-established in silico techniques towards drug development for diseases caused by dysfunctional ABC proteins.