The Rac1 exchange factor Dock5 is essential for bone resorption by osteoclasts.

Osteoporosis, which results from excessive bone resorption by osteoclasts, is the major cause of morbidity for elder people. Identification of clinically relevant regulators is needed to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Rho GTPases have essential functions in osteoclasts by regulating actin dynamics.

Aptamer-derived peptides as potent inhibitors of the oncogenic RhoGEF Tgat.

Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) activate the Rho GTPases by accelerating their GDP/GTP exchange rate. Some RhoGEFs have been isolated based on their oncogenic potency, and strategies to inhibit their activity are therefore actively being sought. In this study we devise a peptide inhibitor screening strategy to target the GEF activity of Tgat, an oncogenic isoform of the RhoGEF Trio, based on random mutations of the Trio inhibitor TRIP alpha, which we previously isolated using a peptide aptamer screen.