Advantages and shortcomings of cell-based electrical impedance measurements as a GPCR drug discovery tool

G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) transduce extracellular signals and activate intracellular pathways, usually through activating associated G proteins. Due to their involvement in many human diseases, they are recognized worldwide as valuable drug targets. Many experimental approaches help identify small molecules that target GPCRs, including in vitro cell-based reporter assays and binding studies. Most cell-based assays use one signaling pathway or reporter as an assay readout. Moreover, they often require cell labeling or the integration of reporter systems. Over the last decades, cell-based electrical impedance biosensors have been explored for drug discovery. This label-free method holds many advantages over other cellular assays in GPCR research. The technology requires no cell manipulation and offers real-time kinetic measurements of receptor-mediated cellular changes. Instead of measuring the activity of a single reporter, the impedance readout includes information on multiple signaling events. This is beneficial when screening for ligands targeting orphan GPCRs since the signaling cascade(s) of the majority of these receptors are unknown. Due to its sensitivity, the method also applies to cellular models more relevant to disease, including patient-derived cell cultures. Despite its advantages, remaining issues regarding data comparability and interpretability has limited implementation of cell-based electrical impedance (CEI) in drug discovery. Future optimization must include both full exploitation of CEI response data using various ways of analysis as well as further exploration of its potential to detect biased activities early on in drug discovery. Here, we review the contribution of CEI technology to GPCR research, discuss its comparative benefits, and provide recommendations.