Three classes of ligands each bind to distinct sites on the orphan G protein-coupled receptor GPR84.

Medium chain fatty acids can activate the pro-inflammatory receptor GPR84 but so also can molecules related to 3,3'-diindolylmethane. 3,3'-Diindolylmethane and decanoic acid acted as strong positive allosteric modulators of the function of each other and analysis showed the affinity of 3,3'-diindolylmethane to be at least 100 fold higher. Methyl decanoate was not an agonist at GPR84. This implies a key role in binding for the carboxylic acid of the fatty acid. Via homology modelling we predicted and confirmed an integral role of arginine ¹⁷² , located in the 2nd extracellular loop, in the action of decanoic acid but not of 3,3'-diindolylmethane. Exemplars from a patented series of GPR84 antagonists were able to block agonist actions of both decanoic acid and 3,3'-diindolylmethane at GPR84. However, although a radiolabelled form of a related antagonist, [ ³ H]G9543, was able to bind with high affinity to GPR84, this was not competed for by increasing concentrations of either decanoic acid or 3,3'-diindolylmethane and was not affected adversely by mutation of arginine ¹⁷² . These studies identify three separable ligand binding sites within GPR84 and suggest that if medium chain fatty acids are true endogenous regulators then co-binding with a positive allosteric modulator would greatly enhance their function in physiological settings.