Structure of Opioid Receptors Revealed, Leading to Nobel Prize In Chemistry for Brian Kobilka, MD, and Robert Lefkowitz, MD

摘要

A landmark series of articles published in the May 2012 issue of Nature has elucidated the high-resolution crystal structure of all the 4 opioid receptors (ORs): delta, kappa, mu, and the nociceptin/ orphanin FQ peptide receptor. In addition to the praise when the articles were first published last spring, fall brought even more accolades with the news that one of the researchers, Brian Kobilka, MD, professor of molecular and cellular physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, had won the Nobel Prize for chemistry, sharing it with Robert Lefkowitz, MD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Duke University School of Medicine.