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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

A Pipeline to Investigate the Structures and Signaling Pathways of Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptors
Published on: June 8, 2022
Structural characteristics of lysophosphatidic acid biological targets
1Department of Chemistry and Computational Research on Materials Institute (CROMIUM), The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA. aparrill@memphis.edu
Abstract:
Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA; 1-acyl-3-phosphoglycerol) exerts its biological activity through both extracellular and intracellular targets. Receptor targets include the cell-surface G-protein-coupled receptors LPA(1-4) and the nuclear PPAR-gamma (peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor gamma). Enzyme targets include the secreted cancer cell motility factor, autotaxin, and the transmembrane phosphatases, LPP1-3 (where LPP stands for lipid phosphate phosphatase). Ion channel targets include the two pore domain ion channels in the TREK family, TREK-1, TREK-2 and TRAAK. Structural features of these targets and their interactions with LPA are reviewed.
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