The GPCRVP score reliably predicts the impact of GLP1R human variants on receptor function
Abstract
Aims/hypothesis The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R) is a key regulator of glucose homeostasis and body weight, and a major therapeutic target for type 2 diabetes and obesity. Individual disease risk and response to treatments may vary widely depending on the presence of missense variants (MVs) in the GLP1R gene, but accurate prediction of the impact of MVs in the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) remains challenging. Here we aimed to generate a reliable and GPCR-tailored predictor of the impact of MVs that is applicable for precision medicine. Methods We developed a GPCR variant impact predictor (GPCR VP score) by combining molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with available machine-learning/AI-based models (AlphaMissense and REVEL) to substantially improve the predictive performance of existing models. MD simulations of wild-type and mutant GLP1R complexes were used to extract GPCR-specific structural and dynamic features that capture membrane context, allosteric communication, and mutation-induced contact rearrangements. These descriptors were integrated with existing variant-effect predictors (AlphaMissense and REVEL) and trained on 58 experimentally characterised GLP1R variants to develop GPCR VP , a GPCR-specific variant predictor. Results The GPCR VP predictor showed strong agreement with experimental data and robust performance on independent validation datasets. Notably, it demonstrated a substantial reduction in false-positive predictions (approximately 78%) in the validation sets compared with AlphaMissense, indicating improved specificity and reliability. Generation of structural models for all known human GLP1R MVs (174 outside the training and validation sets) produced a comprehensive resource showing the predictive impact of all GLP1R MVs. Conclusions/interpretation These findings establish the GPCR VP score as a GPCR-specific and reliable predictor for GLP1R MVs that is likely to be of great relevance for clinical decision-making without the time- and cost-consuming generation of experimental data.
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BibTeX
@article{lopezbalastegui2026gpcrvp,
title = {{The GPCRVP score reliably predicts the impact of GLP1R human variants on receptor function}},
author = {Marta Lopez-Balastegui and Shuangyu Lian and Wenwen Gao and Florence Gbahou and Tomasz Stepniewski and Julie Dam and Ralf Jockers and Jana Selent},
journal = {Diabetologia},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1007/s00125-026-06859-3},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05775455v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The GPCRVP score reliably predicts the impact of GLP1R human variants on receptor function
AU - Marta Lopez-Balastegui
AU - Shuangyu Lian
AU - Wenwen Gao
AU - Florence Gbahou
AU - Tomasz Stepniewski
AU - Julie Dam
AU - Ralf Jockers
AU - Jana Selent
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
JO - Diabetologia
DO - 10.1007/s00125-026-06859-3
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05775455v1
AB - Aims/hypothesis The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R) is a key regulator of glucose homeostasis and body weight, and a major therapeutic target for type 2 diabetes and obesity. Individual disease risk and response to treatments may vary widely depending on the presence of missense variants (MVs) in the GLP1R gene, but accurate prediction of the impact of MVs in the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) remains challenging. Here we aimed to generate a reliable and GPCR-tailored predictor of the impact of MVs that is applicable for precision medicine. Methods We developed a GPCR variant impact predictor (GPCR VP score) by combining molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with available machine-learning/AI-based models (AlphaMissense and REVEL) to substantially improve the predictive performance of existing models. MD simulations of wild-type and mutant GLP1R complexes were used to extract GPCR-specific structural and dynamic features that capture membrane context, allosteric communication, and mutation-induced contact rearrangements. These descriptors were integrated with existing variant-effect predictors (AlphaMissense and REVEL) and trained on 58 experimentally characterised GLP1R variants to develop GPCR VP , a GPCR-specific variant predictor. Results The GPCR VP predictor showed strong agreement with experimental data and robust performance on independent validation datasets. Notably, it demonstrated a substantial reduction in false-positive predictions (approximately 78%) in the validation sets compared with AlphaMissense, indicating improved specificity and reliability. Generation of structural models for all known human GLP1R MVs (174 outside the training and validation sets) produced a comprehensive resource showing the predictive impact of all GLP1R MVs. Conclusions/interpretation These findings establish the GPCR VP score as a GPCR-specific and reliable predictor for GLP1R MVs that is likely to be of great relevance for clinical decision-making without the time- and cost-consuming generation of experimental data.
SN - 0012-186X
SN - 1432-0428
ER -