Structure-based design of potent retinoid X receptor alpha agonists.
Haffner, C.D., Lenhard, J.M., Miller, A.B., McDougald, D.L., Dwornik, K., Ittoop, O.R., Gampe Jr., R.T., Xu, H.E., Blanchard, S., Montana, V.G., Consler, T.G., Bledsoe, R.K., Ayscue, A., Croom, D.(2004) J Med Chem 47: 2010-2029
- PubMed: 15056000 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jm030565g
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
1RDT - PubMed Abstract: 
A series of tetrahydrobenzofuranyl and tetrahydrobenzothienyl propenoic acids that showed potent agonist activity against RXRalpha were synthesized via a structure-based design approach. Among the compounds studied, 46a,b showed not only very good potency against RXRalpha (K(i) = 6 nM) but was also found to be greater than 167-fold selective vs RARalpha (K(i) > 1000 nM). This compound profiled out as a full agonist in a cell-based transient transfection assay (EC(50) = 3 nM). The two antipodes were separated via chiral chromatography, and 46b was found to be 40-fold more potent than 46a. Interestingly, cocrystallization of 46a,b with the RXRalpha protein generated a liganded structure whereby the (S)-antipode was found in the binding pocket. Given orally in db/db mice or ZDF rats, 46a,b showed a significant glucose-lowering effect and an increase in liver mass. Triglycerides decreased significantly in db/db mice but increased in the ZDF rats. A dose-dependent decrease of nonesterified free fatty acids was seen in ZDF rats but not in db/db mice. These differences indicate a species specific effect of RXR agonists on lipid metabolism.
Organizational Affiliation: 
GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development, 5 Moore Drive, P.O. Box 13398, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. curt.d.haffner@gsk.com