Structural analysis identifies an escape route from the adverse lipogenic effects of liver X receptor ligands.

ABSTRACT: Liver X receptors (LXRs) are attractive drug targets for cardiovascular disease treatment due to their role in regulating cholesterol homeostasis and immunity. The anti-atherogenic properties of LXRs have prompted development of synthetic ligands, but these cause major adverse effects-such as increased lipogenesis-which are challenging to dissect from their beneficial activities. Here we show that LXR compounds displaying diverse functional responses in animal models induce distinct receptor conformations. Combination of hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry and multivariate analysis allowed identification of LXR regions differentially correlating with anti-atherogenic and lipogenic activities of ligands. We show that lipogenic compounds stabilize active states of LXR? and LXR? while the anti-atherogenic expression of the cholesterol transporter ABCA1 is associated with the ligand-induced stabilization of LXR? helix 3. Our data indicates that avoiding ligand interaction with the activation helix 12 while engaging helix 3 may provide directions for development of ligands with improved therapeutic profiles.

SUBMITTER: Belorusova AY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6874530 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature