TY - JOUR AU - Lin Guang-yao AU - Lin Lin AU - Cai Xiao-qing AU - Dai An-tao AU - Zhu Yue AU - Li Jie AU - Liu Qing AU - Yang De-hua AU - Bathgate Ross A. D. AU - Wang Ming-wei PY - 2020 TI - High-throughput screening campaign identifies a small molecule agonist of the relaxin family peptide receptor 4 JF - Acta Pharmacologica Sinica; Vol 41, No 10 (October 2020): Acta Pharmacologica Sinica Y2 - 2020 KW - N2 - Relaxin/insulin-like family peptide receptor 4 (RXFP4) is a class A G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), and insulin-like peptide 5 (INSL5) is its endogenous ligand. Although the precise physiological role of INSL5/RXFP4 remains elusive, a number of studies have suggested it to be a potential therapeutic target for obesity and other metabolic disorders. Since selective agonists of RXFP4 are scarcely available and peptidic analogs of INSL5 are hard to make, we conducted a high-throughput screening campaign against 52,000 synthetic and natural compounds targeting RXFP4. Of the 109 initial hits discovered, only 3 compounds were confirmed in secondary screening, with JK0621-D008 displaying the best agonism at human RXFP4. Its S- configuration stereoisomer (JK1) was subsequently isolated and validated by a series of bioassays, demonstrating a consistent agonistic effect in cells overexpressing RXFP4. This scaffold may provide a valuable tool to further explore the biological functions of RXFP4. UR - http://www.chinaphar.com/article/view/10211