Terminology summary
Pathway-preference: A ligand’s differential activity across
pathways (e.g. pathway ΔLog(Emax/EC50) or
ΔLog(Emax/EC50) values), not comparing to a reference
ligand. As no reference ligand is used, the comparison must be made
ideally using the same or otherwise near-identical systems and assays.
Report underlying quantitative data of bias
factors
Recommendation 8: We recommend authors to tabulate the
underlying quantitative values of the pharmacological parameters used to
calculate a bias factor (templates are provided in Tables 3-4).
Reporting these values will improve clarity, increase transparency and
future-proof cross-study comparisons. It also allows databases to
calculate and present multiple models of bias or to change the choice of
reference ligand to facilitate comparison across studies. Furthermore,
we recommend always reporting slope factors of the
concentration-response curves. This information is critical especially
when ΔΔLog(Emax/EC50) is used to assess bias, as slope
factors deviating from 1 indicate the extent to which system bias
(rather than ligand bias) contributes to the calculated bias factors.
Bias measured at the level of GPCR-binding
transducers