GLIDA: GPCR-ligand database for chemical genomic drug discovery

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent one of the most important families of drug targets in pharmaceutical development. GPCR-LIgand DAtabase (GLIDA) is a novel public GPCR-related chemical genomic database that is primarily focused on the correlation of information between GPCRs and their ligands. It provides correlation data between GPCRs and their ligands, along with chemical information on the ligands, as well as access information to the various web databases regarding GPCRs. These data are connected with each other in a relational database, allowing users in the field of GPCR-related drug discovery to easily retrieve such information from either biological or chemical starting points. GLIDA includes structure similarity search functions for the GPCRs and for their ligands. Thus, GLIDA can provide correlation maps linking the searched homologous GPCRs (or ligands) with their ligands (or GPCRs). By analyzing the correlation patterns between GPCRs and ligands, we can gain more detailed knowledge about their interactions and improve drug design efforts by focusing on inferred candidates for GPCR-specific drugs. GLIDA is publicly available at http://gdds.pharm.kyoto-u.ac.jp:8081/glida. We hope that it will prove very useful for chemical genomic research and GPCR-related drug discovery.