Steroid receptor drugs have been available for more than half a century, but details of the ligand binding mechanism have remained elusive. We solved X-ray structures of the glucocorticoid and ...mineralocorticoid receptors to identify a conserved plasticity at the helix 6–7 region that extends the ligand binding pocket toward the receptor surface. Since none of the endogenous ligands exploit this region, we hypothesized that it constitutes an integral part of the binding event. Extensive all-atom unbiased ligand exit and entrance simulations corroborate a ligand binding pathway that gives the observed structural plasticity a key functional role. Kinetic measurements reveal that the receptor residence time correlates with structural rearrangements observed in both structures and simulations. Ultimately, our findings reveal why nature has conserved the capacity to open up this region, and highlight how differences in the details of the ligand entry process result in differential evolutionary constraints across the steroid receptors.
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•X-Ray structures of MR and GR reveal a conserved plasticity near helices 6 and 7•Ligand binding simulations provide a functional role to the observed plasticity•Residence time measurements correlate with the proposed binding mechanism•Differences in receptor blueprints promote differential evolutionary constraints
Edman et al. combined X-ray crystallography, computational simulations, and residence time measurements to uncover the ligand entry and exit processes of steroid hormone receptors. Subsequent bioinformatics analyses confirmed that differences in the details of the ligand entry mechanism lead to differential selection pressure across the receptor family.
Excess mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) activation promotes target organ dysfunction, vascular injury and fibrosis. MR antagonists like eplerenone are used for treating heart failure, but their use is ...limited due to the compound class-inherent hyperkalemia risk. Here we present evidence that AZD9977, a first-in-class MR modulator shows cardio-renal protection despite a mechanism-based reduced liability to cause hyperkalemia. AZD9977 in vitro potency and binding mode to MR were characterized using reporter gene, binding, cofactor recruitment assays and X-ray crystallopgraphy. Organ protection was studied in uni-nephrectomised db/db mice and uni-nephrectomised rats administered aldosterone and high salt. Acute effects of single compound doses on urinary electrolyte excretion were tested in rats on a low salt diet. AZD9977 and eplerenone showed similar human MR in vitro potencies. Unlike eplerenone, AZD9977 is a partial MR antagonist due to its unique interaction pattern with MR, which results in a distinct recruitment of co-factor peptides when compared to eplerenone. AZD9977 dose dependently reduced albuminuria and improved kidney histopathology similar to eplerenone in db/db uni-nephrectomised mice and uni-nephrectomised rats. In acute testing, AZD9977 did not affect urinary Na+/K+ ratio, while eplerenone increased the Na+/K+ ratio dose dependently. AZD9977 is a selective MR modulator, retaining organ protection without acute effect on urinary electrolyte excretion. This predicts a reduced hyperkalemia risk and AZD9977 therefore has the potential to deliver a safe, efficacious treatment to patients prone to hyperkalemia.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Oral corticosteroid use is limited by side effects, some caused by off‐target actions on the mineralocorticoid receptor that disrupt electrolyte balance. AZD9567 is a selective, nonsteroidal ...glucocorticoid receptor modulator. The efficacy, safety, and tolerability of AZD9567 and prednisolone were assessed in a phase IIa study. Anti‐inflammatory mechanism of action was also evaluated in vitro in monocytes from healthy donors. In this randomized, double‐blind, parallel‐group, multicenter study, patients with active rheumatoid arthritis were randomized 1:1 to AZD9567 40 mg or prednisolone 20 mg once daily orally for 14 days. The primary end point was change from baseline in DAS28‐CRP at day 15. Secondary end points included components of DAS28‐CRP, American College of Rheumatology (ACR) response criteria (ACR20, ACR50, and ACR70), and safety end points, including serum electrolytes. Overall, 21 patients were randomized to AZD9567 (n = 11) or prednisolone (n = 10), and all completed the study. As anticipated, AZD9567 had a similar efficacy profile to prednisolone, with no clinically meaningful (i.e., >1.0) difference in change from baseline to day 15 in DAS28‐CRP between AZD9567 and prednisolone (least‐squares mean difference: 0.47, 95% confidence interval: −0.49 to 1.43). Similar results were observed for the secondary efficacy end points. In vitro transcriptomic analysis showed that anti‐inflammatory responses were similar for AZD9567, prednisolone, and dexamethasone. Unlike prednisolone, AZD9567 had no effect on the serum sodium:potassium ratio. The safety profile was not different from that of prednisolone. Larger studies of longer duration are required to determine whether AZD9567 40 mg may in the future be an alternative to prednisolone in patients with inflammatory disease.
Sensory rhodopsins (SRs) belong to a subfamily of heptahelical transmembrane proteins containing a retinal chromophore. These photoreceptors mediate the cascade of vision in animal eyes and ...phototaxis in archaebacteria and unicellular flagellated algae. Signal transduction by these photoreceptors occurs by means of transducer proteins. The two archaebacterial sensory rhodopsins SRI and SRII are coupled to the membrane-bound HtrI and HtrII transducer proteins. Activation of these proteins initiates phosphorylation cascades that modulate the flagellar motors, resulting in either attractant (SRI) or repellent (SRII) phototaxis. In addition, transducer-free SRI and SRII were shown to operate as proton pumps, analogous to bacteriorhodopsin. Here, we present the x-ray structure of SRII from Natronobacterium pharaonis (pSRII) at 2.1-Å resolution, revealing a unique molecular architecture of the retinal-binding pocket. In particular, the structure of pSRII exhibits a largely unbent conformation of the retinal (as compared with bacteriorhodopsin and halorhodopsin), a hydroxyl group of Thr-204 in the vicinity of the Schiff base, and an outward orientation of the guanidinium group of Arg-72. Furthermore, the structure reveals a putative chloride ion that is coupled to the Schiff base by means of a hydrogen-bond network and a unique, positively charged surface patch for a probable interaction with HtrII. The high-resolution structure of pSRII provides a structural basis to elucidate the mechanisms of phototransduction and color tuning.
Recent 3-D structures of several intermediates in the photocycle of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) provide a detailed structural picture of this molecular proton pump in action. In this review, we describe ...the sequence of conformational changes of bR following the photoisomerization of its all-
trans retinal chromophore, which is covalently bound via a protonated Schiff base to Lys216 in helix G, to a 13-
cis configuration. The initial changes are localized near the protein's active site and a key water molecule is disordered. This water molecule serves as a keystone for the ground state of bR since, within the framework of the complex counter ion, it is important both for stabilizing the structure of the extracellular half of the protein, and for maintaining the high p
K
a of the Schiff base (the primary proton donor) and the low p
K
a of Asp85 (the primary proton acceptor). Subsequent structural rearrangements propagate out from the active site towards the extracellular half of the protein, with a local flex of helix C exaggerating an early movement of Asp85 towards the Schiff base, thereby facilitating proton transfer between these two groups. Other coupled rearrangements indicate the mechanism of proton release to the extracellular medium. On the cytoplasmic half of the protein, a local unwinding of helix G near the backbone of Lys216 provides sites for water molecules to order and define a pathway for the reprotonation of the Schiff base from Asp96 later in the photocycle. A steric clash of the photoisomerized retinal with Trp182 in helix F drives an outward tilt of the cytoplasmic half of this helix, opening the proton transport channel and enabling a proton to be taken up from the cytoplasm. Although bR is the first integral membrane protein to have its catalytic mechanism structurally characterized in detail, several key results were anticipated in advance of the structural model and the general framework for vectorial proton transport has, by and large, been preserved.
A wide variety of mechanisms are used to generate a proton-motive potential
across cell membranes, a function lying at the heart of bioenergetics. Bacteriorhodopsin,
the simplest known proton pump, ...provides a paradigm for understanding
this process. Here we report, at 2.1 resolution, the structural
changes in bacteriorhodopsin immediately preceding the primary proton transfer
event in its photocycle. The early structural rearrangements
propagate from the protein's core towards the extracellular surface, disrupting
the network of hydrogen-bonded water molecules that stabilizes helix C in
the ground state. Concomitantly, a bend of this helix enables the negatively
charged primary proton acceptor, Asp 85, to approach
closer to the positively charged primary proton donor, the Schiff base. The
primary proton transfer event would then neutralize these two groups, cancelling
their electrostatic attraction and facilitating a relaxation of helix C to
a less strained geometry. Reprotonation of the Schiff base by Asp 85
would thereby be impeded, ensuring vectorial proton transport. Structural
rearrangements also occur near the protein's surface, aiding proton release
to the extracellular medium.
Bacteriorhodopsin is the simplest known photon-driven proton pump and as such provides a model for the study of a basic function in bioenergetics. Its seven transmembrane helices encompass a proton ...translocation pathway containing the chromophore, a retinal molecule covalently bound to lysine 216 through a protonated Schiff base, and a series of proton donors and acceptors. Photoisomerization of the all-trans retinal to the 13-cis configuration initiates the vectorial translocation of a proton from the Schiff base, the primary proton donor, to the extracellular side, followed by reprotonation of the Schiff base from the cytoplasm. Here we describe the high-resolution X-ray structure of an early intermediate in the photocycle of bacteriorhodopsin, which is formed directly after photoexcitation. A key water molecule is dislocated, allowing the primary proton acceptor, Asp 85, to move. Movement of the main-chain Lys 216 locally disrupts the hydrogen-bonding network of helix G, facilitating structural changes later in the photocycle.
X-ray and electron diffraction studies of specific reaction intermediates, or reaction intermediate analogues, have produced a consistent picture of the structural mechanism of light-driven proton ...pumping by bacteriorhodopsin. Of central importance within this picture is the structure of the L-intermediate, which follows the retinal all-trans to 13-cis photoisomerization step of the K-intermediate and sets the stage for the primary proton transfer event from the positively charged Schiff base to the negatively charged Asp-85. Here we report the structural changes in bacteriorhodopsin following red light illumination at 150 K. Single crystal microspectrophotometry showed that only the L-intermediate is populated in three-dimensional crystals under these conditions. The experimental difference Fourier electron density map and refined crystallographic structure were consistent with those previously presented (Royant, A., Edman, K., Ursby, T., Pebay-Peyroula, E., Landau, E. M., and Neutze, R. (2000) Nature 406, 645-648; Royant, A., Edman, K., Ursby, T., Pebay-Peyroula, E., Landau, E. M., and Neutze, R. (2001) Photochem. Photobiol. 74, 794-804). Based on the refined crystallographic structures, molecular dynamic simulations were used to examine the influence of the conformational change of the protein that is associated with the K-to-L transition on retinal dynamics. Implications regarding the structural mechanism for proton pumping by bacteriorhodopsin are discussed.
Protease-activated receptors (PARs) are a family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are irreversibly activated by proteolytic cleavage of the N terminus, which unmasks a tethered peptide ...ligand that binds and activates the transmembrane receptor domain, eliciting a cellular cascade in response to inflammatory signals and other stimuli. PARs are implicated in a wide range of diseases, such as cancer and inflammation. PARs have been the subject of major pharmaceutical research efforts but the discovery of small-molecule antagonists that effectively bind them has proved challenging. The only marketed drug targeting a PAR is vorapaxar, a selective antagonist of PAR1 used to prevent thrombosis. The structure of PAR1 in complex with vorapaxar has been reported previously. Despite sequence homology across the PAR isoforms, discovery of PAR2 antagonists has been less successful, although GB88 has been described as a weak antagonist. Here we report crystal structures of PAR2 in complex with two distinct antagonists and a blocking antibody. The antagonist AZ8838 binds in a fully occluded pocket near the extracellular surface. Functional and binding studies reveal that AZ8838 exhibits slow binding kinetics, which is an attractive feature for a PAR2 antagonist competing against a tethered ligand. Antagonist AZ3451 binds to a remote allosteric site outside the helical bundle. We propose that antagonist binding prevents structural rearrangements required for receptor activation and signalling. We also show that a blocking antibody antigen-binding fragment binds to the extracellular surface of PAR2, preventing access of the tethered ligand to the peptide-binding site. These structures provide a basis for the development of selective PAR2 antagonists for a range of therapeutic uses.
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