The novel adrenergic agonist ATR-127 targets skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue to tackle diabesity and steatohepatitis.

OBJECTIVE: Simultaneous activation of ß2- and ß3-adrenoceptors (ARs) improves whole-body metabolism via beneficial effects in skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue (BAT). Nevertheless, high-efficacy agonists simultaneously targeting these receptors whilst limiting activation of ß1-ARs - and thus inducing cardiovascular complications - are currently non-existent. Therefore, we here developed and evaluated the therapeutic potential of a novel ß2-and ß3-AR, named ATR-127, for the treatment of obesity and its associated metabolic perturbations in preclinical models. METHODS: In the developmental phase, we assessed the impact of ATR-127's on cAMP accumulation in relation to the non-selective ß-AR agonist isoprenaline across various rodent ß-AR subtypes, including neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. Following these experiments, L6 muscle cells were stimulated with ATR-127 to assess the impact on GLUT4-mediated glucose uptake and intramyocellular cAMP accumulation. Additionally, in vitro, and in vivo assessments are conducted to measure ATR-127's effects on BAT glucose uptake and thermogenesis. Finally, diet-induced obese mice were treated with 5 mg/kg ATR-127 for 21 days to investigate the effects on glucose homeostasis, body weight, fat mass, skeletal muscle glucose uptake, BAT thermogenesis and hepatic steatosis. RESULTS: Exposure of L6 muscle cells to ATR-127 robustly enhanced GLUT4-mediated glucose uptake despite low intramyocellular cAMP accumulation. Similarly, ATR-127 markedly increased BAT glucose uptake and thermogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Prolonged treatment of diet-induced obese mice with ATR-127 dramatically improved glucose homeostasis, an effect accompanied by decreases in body weight and fat mass. These effects were paralleled by an enhanced skeletal muscle glucose uptake, BAT thermogenesis, and improvements in hepatic steatosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that ATR-127 is a highly effective, novel ß2- and ß3-ARs agonist holding great therapeutic promise for the treatment of obesity and its comorbidities, whilst potentially limiting cardiovascular complications. As such, the therapeutic effects of ATR-127 should be investigated in more detail in clinical studies.

Development of novel ß2-adrenergic receptor agonists for the stimulation of glucose uptake - The importance of chirality and ring size of cyclic amines.

ß2-Adrenergic receptor (ß2AR) agonists have been reported to stimulate glucose uptake (GU) by skeletal muscle cells and are therefore highly interesting as a possible treatment for type 2 diabetes (T2D). The chirality of compounds often has a great impact on the activity of ß2AR agonists, although this has thus far not been investigated for GU. Here we report the GU for a selection of synthesized acyclic and cyclic ß-hydroxy-3-fluorophenethylamines. For the N-butyl and the N-(2-pentyl) compounds, the (R) and (R,R) (3d and 7e) stereoisomers induced the highest GU. When the compounds contained a saturated nitrogen containing 4- to 7-membered heterocycle, the (R,R,R) enantiomer of the azetidine (8a) and the pyrrolidine (9a) had the highest activity. Altogether, these results provide pivotal information for designing novel ß2AR agonist for the treatment of T2D.

Stereoselective synthesis of the diazonamide a macrocyclic core.

Stereoselective synthesis of the right-hand heteroaromatic macrocycle of diazonamide A features C16-C18 bond formation in the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling and atropodiastereoselective Dieckmann-type macrocyclization as key steps. The Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling gave the best yields when it was catalyzed by a palladium-dioxygen complex.

Catalytic direct acetoxylation of indoles.

3-Acetoxyindole-2-carboxylates could be readily synthesized in a Pd(OAc)(2)- or PtCl(2)-catalyzed direct C-3 acetoxylation of indole-2-carboxylates using PhI(OAc)(2) as a terminal oxidant.

New melanocortin 1 receptor binding motif based on the C-terminal sequence of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone.

The C-terminal tripeptide of the alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH11-13) possesses strong antiinflammatory activity without known cellular target. In order to better understand the structural requirements for function of such motif, we designed, synthesized and tested out Trp- and Tyr-containing analogues of the alpha-MSH11-13. Seven alpha-MSH11-13 analogues were synthesized and characterized for their binding to the melanocortin receptors recombinantly expressed in insect (Sf9) cells, infected with baculovirus carrying corresponding MC receptor DNA. We also tested these analogues on B16-F1 mouse melanoma cells endogenously expressing the MC1 receptor for binding and for ability to increase cAMP levels as well as on COS-7 cells transfected with the human MC receptors. The data indicate that HS401 (Ac-Tyr-Lys-Pro-Val-NH2) and HS402 (Ac-Lys-Pro-Val-Tyr-NH2) selectively bound to the MC1 receptor and stimulated cAMP generation in a concentration dependent way while the other Tyr- and Trp-containing alpha-MSH11-13 analogues neither bound to MC receptors nor stimulated cAMP. We have thus identified new MC receptor binding motif derived from the C-terminal sequence of alpha-MSH. The tetrapeptides have novel properties as the both act via MC-ergic pathways and also carry the anti-inflammatory alpha-MSH11-13 message sequence.

Novel selective melanocortin 4 receptor antagonist induces food intake after peripheral administration.

We synthesized a new series of small cyclic melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) analogues and screened them for binding affinity at the four MSH binding melanocortin (MC) receptors. We identified a novel substance HS131, with about 20-fold higher affinity for the MC4 receptor than the MC3 receptor. This substance proved to be antagonist for all the four MC receptors in a cAMP assay. HS131 is a six amino acid long peptide, has a molecular weight below 1000, and has only two amino acids in common with the natural MSH peptides. HS131 potently and dose dependently increased food intake after i.c.v. administration. Moreover, s.c. administration of HS131 (1.0 mg/kg) increased food intake, suggesting that HS131 may be able to pass the blood brain barrier. This cyclic low molecular weight peptidomimetic will enable studies of the functional role of the MC4 receptors by peripheral administration and it may be used as a template for further development of low molecular weight substances for the MC receptors.