Discovery of new piperidine amide triazolobenzodiazepinones as intestinal-selective CCK1 receptor agonists

Effective microwave-assisted approach to 1,2,3-triazolobenzodiazepinones via tandem Ugi reaction/catalyst-free intramolecular azide-alkyne cycloaddition

A novel catalyst-free synthetic approach to 1,2,3-triazolobenzodiazepinones has been developed and optimized. The Ugi reaction of 2-azidobenzaldehyde, various amines, isocyanides, and acids followed by microwave-assisted intramolecular azide-alkyne cycloaddition (IAAC) gave a series of target heterocyclic compounds in moderate to excellent yields. Surprisingly, the normally required ruthenium-based catalysts were found to not affect the IAAC, only making isolation of the target compounds harder while the microwave-assisted catalyst-free conditions were effective for both terminal and non-terminal alkynes.

Changes in the plasma membrane in metabolic disease: impact of the membrane environment on G protein-coupled receptor structure and function

Drug development targeting GPCRs often utilizes model heterologous cell expression systems, reflecting an implicit assumption that the membrane environment has little functional impact on these receptors or on their responsiveness to drugs. However, much recent data have illustrated that membrane components can have an important functional impact on intrinsic membrane proteins. This review is directed toward gaining a better understanding of the structure of the plasma membrane in health and disease, and how this organelle can influence GPCR structure, function and regulation. It is important to recognize that the membrane provides a potential mode of lateral allosteric regulation of GPCRs and can affect the effectiveness of drugs and their biological responses in various disease states, which can even vary among individuals across the population. The type 1 cholecystokinin receptor is reviewed as an exemplar of a class A GPCR that is affected in this way by changes in the plasma membrane.

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This article is part of a themed section on Molecular Pharmacology of GPCRs. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v175.21/issuetoc.

Cholecystokinin responsiveness varies across the population dependent on metabolic phenotype

Background: Cholecystokinin (CCK) is an important satiety factor, acting at type 1 receptors (CCK1Rs) on vagal afferent neurons; however, CCK agonists have failed clinical trials for obesity. We postulated that CCK1R function might be defective in such patients due to abnormal membrane composition, such as that observed in cholesterol gallstone disease.Objective: Due to the challenges in directly studying CCK1Rs relevant to appetite control, our goal was to develop and apply a method to determine the impact of a patient's own cellular environment on CCK stimulus-activity coupling and to determine whether CCK sensitivity correlated with the metabolic phenotype of a high-risk population.Design: Wild-type CCK1Rs were expressed on leukocytes from 112 Hispanic patients by using adenoviral transduction and 24-h culture, with quantitation of cholesterol composition and intracellular calcium responses to CCK. Results were correlated with clinical, biochemical, and morphometric characteristics.Results: Broad ranges of cellular cholesterol and CCK responsiveness were observed, with elevated cholesterol correlated with reduced CCK sensitivity. This was prominent with increasing degrees of obesity and the presence of diabetes, particularly when poorly controlled. No single standard clinical metric correlated directly with CCK responsiveness. Reduced CCK sensitivity best correlated with elevated serum triglycerides in normal-weight participants and with low HDL concentrations and elevated glycated hemoglobin in obese and diabetic patients.Conclusions: CCK responsiveness varies widely across the population, with reduced signaling in patients with obesity and diabetes. This could explain the failure of CCK agonists in previous clinical trials and supports the rationale to develop corrective modulators to reverse this defective servomechanism for appetite control. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03121755.

Molecular Mechanism of Action of Triazolobenzodiazepinone Agonists of the Type 1 Cholecystokinin Receptor. Possible Cooperativity across the Receptor Homodimeric Complex

The type 1 cholecystokinin receptor (CCK1R) has multiple physiologic roles relating to nutrient homeostasis, including mediation of postcibal satiety. This effect has been central in efforts to develop agonists of this receptor as part of a program to manage and/or prevent obesity. While a number of small molecule CCK1R agonists have been developed, none have yet been approved for clinical use, based on inadequate efficacy, side effects, or the potential for toxicity. Understanding the molecular details of docking and mechanism of action of these ligands can be helpful in the rational refinement and enhancement of small molecule drug candidates. In the current work, we have defined the mechanism of binding and activity of two triazolobenzodiazepinones, CE-326597 and PF-04756956, which are reported to be full agonist ligands. To achieve this, we utilized receptor binding with a series of allosteric and orthosteric radioligands at structurally related CCK1R and CCK2R, as well as chimeric CCK1R/CCK2R constructs exchanging residues in the allosteric pocket, and assessment of biological activity. These triazolobenzodiazepinones docked within the intramembranous small molecule allosteric ligand pocket, with higher affinity binding to CCK2R than CCK1R, yet with biological activity exclusive to or greatly enhanced at CCK1R. These ligands exhibited cooperativity with benzodiazepine binding across the CCK1R homodimeric complex, resulting in their ability to inhibit only a fraction of the saturable binding of a benzodiazepine radioligand, unlike other small molecule antagonists and agonists of this receptor. This may contribute to the understanding of the unique short duration and reversible gallbladder contraction observed in vivo upon administration of these drugs.