Dekan Zoltan, Kremsmayr Thomas, Keov Peter, Godin Mathilde, Teakle Ngari, Dürrauer Leopold, Xiang Huang, Gharib Dalia, Bergmayr Christian, Hellinger Roland, Gay Marina, Vilaseca Marta, Kurzbach Dennis, Albericio Fernando, Alewood Paul F, Gruber Christian W, Muttenthaler Markus
Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland Brisbane 4072 Australia
Institute of Biological Chemistry, University of Vienna Währingerstraße 38 1090 Vienna Austria
Chem Sci. 2021 Feb 4;12(11):4057-4062. doi: 10.1039/d0sc05501h.
Vasopressin (VP) and oxytocin (OT) are cyclic neuropeptides that regulate fundamental physiological functions four G protein-coupled receptors, VR, VR, VR, and OTR. Ligand development remains challenging for these receptors due to complex structure-activity relationships. Here, we investigated dimerization as a strategy for developing ligands with novel pharmacology. We regioselectively synthesised and systematically studied parallel, antiparallel and N- to C-terminal cyclized homo- and heterodimer constructs of VP, OT and dVDAVP (1-deamino-4-valine-8-d-arginine-VP). All disulfide-linked dimers, except for the head-to-tail cyclized constructs, retained nanomolar potency despite the structural implications of dimerization. Our results support a single chain interaction for receptor activation. Dimer orientation had little impact on activity, except for the dVDAVP homodimers, where an antagonist to agonist switch was observed at the VR. This study provides novel insights into the structural requirements of VP/OT receptor activation and spotlights dimerization as a strategy to modulate pharmacology, a concept also frequently observed in nature.
血管加压素(VP)和催产素(OT)是调节基本生理功能的环肽,它们通过四种G蛋白偶联受体发挥作用,即VR1、VR2、VR3和OTR。由于复杂的构效关系,针对这些受体开发配体仍然具有挑战性。在此,我们研究了二聚化作为开发具有新型药理学特性配体的一种策略。我们进行了区域选择性合成,并系统地研究了VP、OT和dVDAVP(1-脱氨基-4-缬氨酸-8-d-精氨酸血管加压素)的平行、反平行以及从N端到C端环化的同二聚体和异二聚体构建体。除了头尾环化构建体外,所有二硫键连接的二聚体尽管存在二聚化的结构影响,但仍保持纳摩尔级别的效力。我们的结果支持受体激活存在单链相互作用。二聚体方向对活性影响不大,除了dVDAVP同二聚体,在VR1处观察到了从拮抗剂到激动剂的转变。这项研究为VP/OT受体激活的结构要求提供了新的见解,并突出了二聚化作为调节药理学的一种策略,这一概念在自然界中也经常被观察到。