Cooperative Peripheral CB1 Inhibition by Extracellular Antibody Binding and Orthosteric Antagonism

CB1 is an important therapeutic target for obesity and metabolic disorders, but centrally acting CB1 antagonists are limited by neuropsychiatric side effects. The anti-CB1 antibody Nimacimab has advanced to Phase 2 clinical trials for metabolic disorders, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying peripheral CB1 inhibition remain poorly understood.

To address this, the authors report cryo-EM structures of human CB1 bound to Nimacimab alone and in complex with the orthosteric antagonists Rimonabant and JD5037.

Unlike previously characterized inhibitory GPCR antibodies that block ligand access through steric occlusion or directly engage orthosteric sites, Nimacimab acts through extracellular allosteric inhibition by stabilizing an inactive-like extracellular architecture of CB1. Antibody binding restricts extracellular conformational dynamics and allosterically stabilizes inactive-state signaling microswitches. Importantly, extracellular antibody engagement is structurally compatible with orthosteric antagonism and cooperatively enhances CB1 inhibition. Structural analysis further reveals how JD5037 remodels the extracellular vestibule to achieve peripheral-selective antagonism.

Together, these findings establish extracellular allosteric inhibition as a distinct mechanism of GPCR regulation and provide a structural framework for the development of peripherally selective CB1 therapeutics.