Insights into the molecular basis and mechanism of heme-triggered TLR4 signalling: The role of heme-binding motifs in TLR4 and MD2.

Haemolytic disorders, such as sickle cell disease, are accompanied by the release of high amounts of labile heme into the intravascular compartment resulting in the induction of proinflammatory and prothrombotic complications in affected patients. In addition to the relevance of heme-regulated proteins from the complement and blood coagulation systems, activation of the TLR4 signalling pathway by heme was ascribed a crucial role in the progression of these pathological processes. Heme binding to the TLR4-MD2 complex has been proposed recently, however, essential mechanistic information of the processes at the molecular level, such as heme-binding kinetics, the heme-binding capacity and the respective heme-binding sites (HBMs) is still missing. We report the interaction of TLR4, MD2 and the TLR4-MD2 complex with heme and the consequences thereof by employing biochemical, spectroscopic, bioinformatic and physiologically relevant approaches. Heme binding occurs transiently through interaction with up to four HBMs in TLR4, two HBMs in MD2 and at least four HBMs in their complex. Functional studies highlight that mutations of individual HBMs in TLR4 preserve full receptor activation by heme, suggesting that heme interacts with TLR4 through different binding sites independently of MD2. Furthermore, we confirm and extend the major role of TLR4 for heme-mediated cytokine responses in human immune cells.

A New Molecular Mechanism To Engineer Protean Agonism at a G Protein-Coupled Receptor.

Protean agonists are of great pharmacological interest as their behavior may change in magnitude and direction depending on the constitutive activity of a receptor. Yet, this intriguing phenomenon has been poorly described and understood, due to the lack of stable experimental systems and design strategies. In this study, we overcome both limitations: First, we demonstrate that modulation of the ionic strength in a defined experimental set-up allows for analysis of G protein-coupled receptor activation in the absence and presence of a specific amount of spontaneous receptor activity using the muscarinic M2 acetylcholine receptor as a model. Second, we employ this assay system to show that a dualsteric design principle, that is, molecular probes, carrying two pharmacophores to simultaneously adopt orthosteric and allosteric topography within a G protein-coupled receptor, may represent a novel approach to achieve protean agonism. We pinpoint three molecular requirements within dualsteric compounds that elicit protean agonism at the muscarinic M2 acetylcholine receptor. Using radioligand-binding and functional assays, we posit that dynamic ligand binding may be the mechanism underlying protean agonism of dualsteric ligands. Our findings provide both new mechanistic insights into the still enigmatic phenomenon of protean agonism and a rationale for the design of such compounds for a G protein-coupled receptor.

Further hit optimization of 6-(trifluoromethyl)pyrimidin-2-amine based TLR8 modulators: Synthesis, biological evaluation and structure-activity relationships.

Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8) is an endosomal TLR that has an important role in the innate human immune system, which is involved in numerous pathological conditions. Excessive activation of TLR8 can lead to inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, which highlights the need for development of TLR8 modulators. However, only a few small-molecule modulators that selectively target TLR8 have been developed. Here, we report the synthesis and systematic investigation of the structure-activity relationships of a series of novel TLR8 negative modulators based on previously reported 6-(trifluoromethyl)pyrimidin-2-amine derivatives. Four compounds showed low-micromolar concentration-dependent inhibition of TLR8-mediated signaling in HEK293 cells. These data confirm that the 6-trifluoromethyl group and two other substituents on positions 2 and 4 are important structural elements of pyrimidine-based TLR8 modulators. Substitution of the main scaffold at position 2 with a methylsulfonyl group or para hydroxy/hydroxymethyl substituted benzylamine is essential for potent negative modulation of TLR8. Our best-in-class TLR8-selective modulator 53 with IC50 value of 6.2 µM represents a promising small-molecule chemical probe for further optimization to a lead compound with potent immunomodulatory properties.

Carbachol dimers with primary carbamate groups as homobivalent modulators of muscarinic receptors.

Although agonists and antagonists of muscarinic receptors have been known for long time, there is renewed interest in compounds (such as allosteric or bitopic ligands, or biased agonists) able to differently and selectively modulate these receptors. As a continuation of our previous research, we designed a new series of dimers of the well-known cholinergic agonist carbachol. The new compounds were tested on the five cloned human muscarinic receptors (hM1-5) expressed in CHO cells by means of equilibrium binding experiments, showing a dependence of the binding affinity on the length and position of the linker connecting the two monomers. Kinetic binding studies revealed that some of the tested compounds were able to slow the rate of NMS dissociation, suggesting allosteric behavior, also supported by docking simulations. Assessment of ERK1/2 phosphorylation on hM1, hM2 and hM3 activation showed that the new compounds are endowed with muscarinic antagonist properties. At hM2 receptors, some compounds were able to stimulate GTPγS binding but not cAMP accumulation, suggesting a biased behavior. Classification, Molecular and cellular pharmacology.

Ligand-Specific Allosteric Coupling Controls G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Signaling.

Allosteric coupling describes a reciprocal process whereby G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) relay ligand-induced conformational changes from the extracellular binding pocket to the intracellular signaling surface. Therefore, GPCR activation is sensitive to both the type of extracellular ligand and intracellular signaling protein. We hypothesized that ligand-specific allosteric coupling may result in preferential (i.e., biased) engagement of downstream effectors. However, the structural basis underlying ligand-dependent control of this essential allosteric mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we show that two sets of extended muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M1 agonists, which only differ in linker length, progressively constrain receptor signaling. We demonstrate that stepwise shortening of their chemical linker gradually hampers binding pocket closure, resulting in divergent coupling to distinct G-protein families. Our data provide an experimental strategy for the design of ligands with selective G-protein recognition and reveal a potentially general mechanism of ligand-specific allosteric coupling.

Novel BQCA- and TBPB-Derived M1 Receptor Hybrid Ligands: Orthosteric Carbachol Differentially Regulates Partial Agonism.

Recently, investigations of the complex mechanisms of allostery have led to a deeper understanding of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) activation and signaling processes. In this context, muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) are highly relevant due to their exemplary role in the study of allosteric modulation. In this work, we compare and discuss two sets of putatively dualsteric ligands, which were designed to connect carbachol to different types of allosteric ligands. We chose derivatives of TBPB [1-(1'-(2-tolyl)-1,4'-bipiperidin-4-yl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2(3H)-one] as M1 -selective putative bitopic ligands, and derivatives of benzyl quinolone carboxylic acid (BQCA) as an M1 positive allosteric modulator, varying the distance between the allosteric and orthosteric building blocks. Luciferase protein complementation assays demonstrated that linker length must be carefully chosen to yield either agonist or antagonist behavior. These findings may help to design biased signaling and/or different extents of efficacy.

Characterization of methanthelinium binding and function at human M1-M5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors.

Firstly, it was determined whether methanthelinium bromide (MB) binds to human M1-M5 (hM1-hM5) muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in comparison to the classical muscarinic antagonist N-methylscopolamine (NMS). [3H]NMS dissociation binding experiments revealed an allosteric retardation of dissociation at 100 µM of MB ranging from none in hM3 to 4.6-fold in hM2 receptors. Accordingly, global non-linear regression analysis of equilibrium inhibition binding curves between [3H]NMS (0.2 and 2.0 nM) and MB was applied and compared using either an allosteric or a competitive model. The allosteric cooperativity of MB binding within MB/NMS/hM receptor complexes was strongly negative and undistinguishable from a competitive interaction throughout all subtypes. Applying the competitive model to the equilibrium binding data of MB and NMS, suggested competition at all hM subtypes: logKI (± S.E.) hM3 = 8.71 ± 0.15, hM1 = 8.68 ± 0.14, hM5 = 8.58 ± 0.07, hM2 = 8.27 ± 0.07 to hM4 = 8.25 ± 0.11. Secondly, the effects of MB on acetylcholine (ACh) induced hM receptor function showed very strong negative allosteric cooperativity at all subtypes pointing against an allosteric antagonism of MB with ACh. Competition with ACh was characterized by logKB: hM1 = 9.53 ± 0.05, hM4 = 9.33 ± 0.05, hM5 = 8.80 ± 0.05, hM2 = 8,79 ± 0.06, to hM3 = 8.43 ± 0.04. In conclusion, MB, below 1 µM, binds competitively and non-selectively (except for the difference between hM3 vs. hM4) to all five hM receptor subtypes with nanomolar affinity and is able to functionally inhibit ACh responses in a competitive fashion, with a slight subtype preference for hM1 and hM4.

Modelling and mathematical analysis of the M$_{2}$ receptor-dependent joint signalling and secondary messenger network in CHO cells.

The muscarinic M$_{2}$ receptor is a prominent member of the GPCR family and strongly involved in heart diseases. Recently published experimental work explored the cellular response to iperoxo-induced M$_{2}$ receptor stimulation in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. To better understand these responses, we modelled and analysed the muscarinic M$_{2}$ receptor-dependent signalling pathway combined with relevant secondary messenger molecules using mass action. In our literature-based joint signalling and secondary messenger model, all binding and phosphorylation events are explicitly taken into account in order to enable subsequent stoichiometric matrix analysis. We propose constraint flux sampling (CFS) as a method to characterize the expected shift of the steady state reaction flux distribution due to the known amount of cAMP production and PDE4 activation. CFS correctly predicts an experimentally observable influence on the cytoskeleton structure (marked by actin and tubulin) and in consequence a change of the optical density of cells. In a second step, we use CFS to simulate the effect of knock-out experiments within our biological system, and thus to rank the influence of individual molecules on the observed change of the optical cell density. In particular, we confirm the relevance of the protein RGS14, which is supported by current literature. A combination of CFS with Elementary Flux Mode analysis enabled us to determine the possible underlying mechanism. Our analysis suggests that mathematical tools developed for metabolic network analysis can also be applied to mixed secondary messenger and signalling models. This could be very helpful to perform model checking with little effort and to generate hypotheses for further research if parameters are not known.

Rational design of partial agonists for the muscarinic m1 acetylcholine receptor.

Aiming to design partial agonists for a G-protein-coupled receptor based on dynamic ligand binding, we synthesized three different series of bipharmacophoric ligands composed of the orthosteric building blocks iperoxo and 1 linked to allosteric modulators (BQCA-derived compounds, BQCAd; TBPB-derived compound, TBPBd). Their interactions were studied with the human muscarinic acetylcholine M1-receptor (hM1) with respect to receptor binding and Gq-protein signaling. Results demonstrate that iperoxo/BQCAd (2, 3) and 1/BQCAd hybrids (4) act as M1 partial agonists, whereas 1/TBPBd hybrids (5) did not activate M1-receptors. Among the iperoxo/BQCAd-hybrids, spacer length in conjunction with the pattern of substitution tuned efficacy. Most interestingly, a model of dynamic ligand binding revealed that the spacer length of 2a and 3a controlled the probability of switch between the inactive purely allosteric and the active bitopic orthosteric/allosteric binding pose. In summary, dynamic ligand binding can be exploited in M1 receptors to design partial agonists with graded efficacy.

New insight into active muscarinic receptors with the novel radioagonist [³H]iperoxo.

Activation of G protein-coupled receptors involves major conformational changes of the receptor protein ranging from the extracellular transmitter binding site to the intracellular G protein binding surface. GPCRs such as the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are commonly probed with radioantagonists rather than radioagonists due to better physicochemical stability, higher affinity, and indifference towards receptor coupling states of the former. Here we introduce tritiated iperoxo, a superagonist at muscarinic M2 receptors with very high affinity. In membrane suspensions of transfected CHO-cells, [³H]iperoxo - unlike the common radioagonists [³H]acetylcholine and [³H]oxotremorine M - allowed labelling of each of the five muscarinic receptor subtypes in radioagonist displacement and saturation binding studies. [³H]iperoxo revealed considerable differences in affinity between the even- and the odd-numbered muscarinic receptor subtypes with affinities for the M2 and M4 receptor in the picomolar range. Probing ternary complex formation on the M2 receptor, [³H]iperoxo dissociation was not influenced by an archetypal allosteric inverse agonist, reflecting activation-related rearrangement of the extracellular loop region. At the inner side of M2, the preferred Gi protein acted as a positive allosteric modulator of [³H]iperoxo binding, whereas Gs and Gq were neutral in spite of their robust coupling to the activated receptor. In intact CHO-hM2 cells, endogenous guanylnucleotides promoted receptor/G protein-dissociation resulting in low-affinity agonist binding which, nevertheless, was still reported by [³H]iperoxo. Taken together, the muscarinic superagonist [³H]iperoxo is the best tool currently available for direct probing activation-related conformational transitions of muscarinic receptors.