Department of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.
Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.
Commun Biol. 2023 Apr 24;6(1):452. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-04739-9.
Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) patients suffer from excessively high levels of Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), which can cause severe cardiovascular disease. Statins, bile acid sequestrants, PCSK9 inhibitors, and cholesterol absorption inhibitors are all inefficient at treating FH patients with homozygous LDLR gene mutations (hoFH). Drugs approved for hoFH treatment control lipoprotein production by regulating steady-state Apolipoprotein B (apoB) levels. Unfortunately, these drugs have side effects including accumulation of liver triglycerides, hepatic steatosis, and elevated liver enzyme levels. To identify safer compounds, we used an iPSC-derived hepatocyte platform to screen a structurally representative set of 10,000 small molecules from a proprietary library of 130,000 compounds. The screen revealed molecules that could reduce the secretion of apoB from cultured hepatocytes and from humanized livers in mice. These small molecules are highly effective, do not cause abnormal lipid accumulation, and share a chemical structure that is distinct from any known cholesterol lowering drug.
家族性高胆固醇血症(FH)患者的低密度脂蛋白胆固醇(LDL-C)水平过高,这可能导致严重的心血管疾病。他汀类药物、胆汁酸螯合剂、PCSK9 抑制剂和胆固醇吸收抑制剂对于治疗载脂蛋白 B(apoB)基因突变的纯合子家族性高胆固醇血症(hoFH)患者均无效。已批准用于治疗 hoFH 的药物通过调节载脂蛋白 B(apoB)的稳态水平来控制脂蛋白的产生。不幸的是,这些药物有副作用,包括肝甘油三酯积累、肝脂肪变性和肝酶水平升高。为了寻找更安全的化合物,我们使用 iPSC 衍生的肝细胞平台从包含 13 万种化合物的专有库中筛选了一组结构代表性的 1 万种小分子。该筛选揭示了能够降低培养的肝细胞和小鼠人源化肝脏中 apoB 分泌的小分子。这些小分子非常有效,不会引起异常脂质积累,并且与任何已知的降胆固醇药物的化学结构都不同。