Structural Basis for Anti-non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Diabetic Dyslipidemia Drug Saroglitazar as a PPAR alpha / gamma Dual Agonist.
Honda, A., Kamata, S., Satta, C., Machida, Y., Uchii, K., Terasawa, K., Nemoto, A., Oyama, T., Ishii, I.(2021) Biol Pharm Bull 44: 1210-1219
- PubMed: 34471049 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1248/bpb.b21-00232
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
7E0A - PubMed Abstract: 
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are nuclear receptor-type transcription factors that consist of three subtypes (¦Á, ¦Ã, and ¦Â/¦Ä) with distinct functions and PPAR dual/pan agonists are expected to be the next generation of drugs for metabolic diseases. Saroglitazar is the first clinically approved PPAR¦Á/¦Ã dual agonist for treatment of diabetic dyslipidemia and is currently in clinical trials to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, the structural information of its interaction with PPAR¦Á/¦Ã remains unknown. We recently revealed the high-resolution co-crystal structure of saroglitazar and the PPAR¦Á-ligand binding domain (LBD) through X-ray crystallography, and in this study, we report the structure of saroglitazar and the PPAR¦Ã-LBD. Saroglitazar was located at the center of "Y"-shaped PPAR¦Ã-ligand-binding pocket (LBP), just as it was in the respective region of PPAR¦Á-LBP. Its carboxylic acid was attached to four amino acids (Ser289/His323/His449/Thr473), which contributes to the stabilization of Activating Function-2 helix 12, and its phenylpyrrole moiety was rotated 121.8 degrees in PPAR¦Ã-LBD from that in PPAR¦Á-LBD to interact with Phe264. PPAR¦Ä-LBD has the consensus four amino acids (Thr253/His287/His413/Tyr437) towards the carboxylic acids of its ligands, but it seems to lack sufficient space to accept saroglitazar because of the steric hindrance between the Trp228 or Arg248 residue of PPAR¦Ä-LBD and its methylthiophenyl moiety. Accordingly, in a coactivator recruitment assay, saroglitazar activated PPAR¦Á-LBD and PPAR¦Ã-LBD but not PPAR¦Ä-LBD, whereas glycine substitution of either Trp228, Arg248, or both of PPAR¦Ä-LBD conferred saroglitazar concentration-dependent activation. Our findings may be valuable in the molecular design of PPAR¦Á/¦Ã dual or PPAR¦Á/¦Ã/¦Ä pan agonists.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Health Chemistry, Showa Pharmaceutical University.