Area of research
Immunology · Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Research interest
Research topics from publications: Nalmefene non-enantioselectively targets myeloid differentiation protein 2 and inhibits toll-like receptor 4 signaling: wet-lab techniques andin silicosimulations; Dissecting the innate immune recognition of morphine and its metabolites by TLR4/MD2: an in silico simulation study. Representative work: Nalmefene is an opiate derivative having a similar structure to naltrexone. Recent evidence suggests that nalmefene, acting as the innate immune protein toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) antagonist, effectively reduces the injury of lung ischemia-reperfusion and prevents neuroinflammation. However, the molecular recognition mechanism, especially the enantioselectivity, of nalmefene by the innate immune receptor is not well understood. Herein in vitro assays and in silico simulations were performed to dissect the innate immune recognition of nalmefene at the atomic, molecular, and cellular levels. Biophysical binding experiments and molecular dynamic simulations provide direct evidence that (-)-nal , which partially explains why M6G fails to activate TLR4 signaling. The discoveries from this study will offer valuable insights for the advancement of next-generation TLR4 small molecule modulators based on opioids