Endogenous vitamin E metabolites mediate allosteric PPAR gamma activation with unprecedented co-regulatory interactions.
Willems, S., Gellrich, L., Chaikuad, A., Kluge, S., Werz, O., Heering, J., Knapp, S., Lorkowski, S., Schubert-Zsilavecz, M., Merk, D.(2021) Cell Chem Biol 28: 1489-1500.e8
- PubMed: 33989565 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.04.019
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
7AWC, 7AWD - PubMed Abstract: 
Vitamin E exhibits pharmacological effects beyond established antioxidant activity suggesting involvement of unidentified mechanisms. Here, we characterize endogenously formed tocopherol carboxylates and the vitamin E mimetic garcinoic acid (GA) as activators of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR¦Ã). Co-stimulation of PPAR¦Ã with GA and the orthosteric agonist pioglitazone resulted in additive transcriptional activity. In line with this, the PPAR¦Ã-GA complex adopted a fully active conformation and interestingly contained two bound GA molecules with one at an allosteric site. A co-regulator interaction scan demonstrated an unanticipated co-factor recruitment profile for GA-bound PPAR¦Ã compared with canonical PPAR¦Ã agonists and gene expression analysis revealed different effects of GA and pioglitazone on PPAR signaling in hepatocytes. These observations reveal allosteric mechanisms of PPAR¦Ã modulation as an alternative avenue to PPAR¦Ã targeting and suggest contributions of PPAR¦Ã activation by ¦Á-13-tocopherolcarboxylate to the pharmacological effects of vitamin E.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt 60438, Germany.