Receptorome screening for CNS drug discovery

An estimated 50% of currently marketed drugs target G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) for a wide variety of indications, including central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Although drug discovery efforts have focused on GPCRs, less than 10% of GPCRs are currently used as drug targets. Thus, GPCRs continue to represent a significant opportunity for future CNS drug development. Identifying the molecular targets of psychoactive compounds may result in the elucidation of novel targets for CNS drug discovery. This commentary will describe discovery-based approaches and provide several recent examples of novel ligand-receptor interactions discovered through systematic screening of the 'receptorome'.