Synthesis and Frizzled-receptor binding of a WNT5A hairpin-3 peptide

Abstract

We synthesized a WNT5A β-hairpin peptide responsible for the protein's binding to its receptor, Frizzled. Full affinity to Frizzled requires all three disulfides but not an invariant tryptophan that significantly contributes to the buried surface area. Our work opens the avenue to target the Wnt–Fzd interface using synthetic peptides.