A study of the molecular mechanism of binding kinetics and long residence times of human CCR5 receptor small molecule allosteric ligands

The interaction between maraviroc and CCR5 proceeded according to a multi-step kinetic mechanism, whereby initial mass action binding and later reorganizations of the initial maraviroc-receptor complex lead to a complex with longer residence time. Site-directed mutagenesis identified a kinetic fingerprint of residues that affected the binding kinetics, leading to the conclusion that allosteric ligand binding to CCR5 involved the rearrangement of the binding site in a manner specific to each allosteric ligand.