Potent and selective oxytocin receptor agonists without disulfide bridges

Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters
2017.0

Abstract

Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide involved in a wide variety of physiological actions, both peripherally and centrally. Many human studies have revealed the potential of OT to treat autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. OT interacts with the OT receptor (OTR) as well as vasopressin 1a and 1b receptors (V1aR, V1bR) as an agonist, and agonistic activity for V1aR and V1bR may have a negative impact on the therapeutic effects of OTR agonism in the CNS. An OTR-selective agonistic peptide, FE 202767, in which the structural differences from OT are a sulfide bond instead of a disulfide bond, and N-alkylglycine replacement for Pro at position 7, was reported. However, the effects of amino acid substitutions in OT have not been comprehensively investigated to compare OTR, V1aR, and V1bR activities. This led us to obtain a new OTR-selective analog by comprehensive amino acid substitutions of OT and replacement of the disulfide bond. A systematic amino acid scanning (Ala, Leu, Phe, Ser, Glu, or Arg) of desamino OT (dOT) at positions 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 revealed the tolerability for the substitution at positions 7 and 8. Further detailed study showed that trans-4-hydroxyproline (trans-Hyp) at position 7 and γ-methylleucine [Leu(Me)] at position 8 were markedly effective for improving receptor selectivity without decreasing the potency at the OTR. Subsequently, a combination of these amino acid substitutions with the replacement of the disulfide bond of dOT analogs with a sulfide bond (carba analog) or an amide bond (lactam analog) yielded several promising analogs, including carba-1-[trans-Hyp7,Leu(Me)8]dOT (14) with a higher potency (7.2pM) at OTR than that of OT and marked selectivity (>10,000-fold) over V1aR and V1bR. Hence, we investigated comprehensive modification of OT and obtained new OT analogs that exhibited high potency at OTR with marked selectivity. These OTR-selective agonists could be useful to investigate OTR-mediated effects on psychiatric disorders.

Knowledge Graph

Similar Paper

Potent and selective oxytocin receptor agonists without disulfide bridges
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2017.0
Building bridges for highly selective, potent and stable oxytocin and vasopressin analogs
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 2018.0
Development of a Highly Potent Analogue and a Long-Acting Analogue of Oxytocin for the Treatment of Social Impairment-Like Behaviors
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2019.0
New, Potent, and Selective Peptidic Oxytocin Receptor Agonists
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2014.0
Hybrid peptide-small molecule oxytocin analogs are potent and selective agonists of the oxytocin receptor
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2018.0
LIT-001, the First Nonpeptide Oxytocin Receptor Agonist that Improves Social Interaction in a Mouse Model of Autism
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2018.0
Synthesis of oxytocin antagonists containing conformationally constrained amino acids in position 2
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 1999.0
Synthesis and biological activity of oxytocin analogues containing conformationally-restricted residues in position 7
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2007.0
Receptor ligands which bind the oxytocin receptor with selectivity and high affinity. Chemical modification of a Streptomyces silvensis derived cyclic hexapeptide
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 1990.0
Synthesis and Characterization of Fluorescent Antagonists and Agonists for Human Oxytocin and Vasopressin V<sub>1</sub><sub>a</sub>Receptors
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2002.0