Identification of Novel Inhibitors of the Steroid Sulfate Carrier 'Sodium
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Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 428 (2016) 133e141 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mce Identification of novel inhibitors of the steroid sulfate carrier ‘sodium- dependent organic anion transporter’ SOAT (SLC10A6)by pharmacophore modelling* Gary Grosser a, Karl-Heinz Baringhaus b, Barbara Doring€ a, Werner Kramer b, * Ernst Petzinger a, Joachim Geyer a, a Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Justus Liebig University of Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany b Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH, R&D, LGCR, Structure, Design and Informatics, Building G 878, 65926 Frankfurt am Main, Germany article info abstract Article history: The sodium-dependent organic anion transporter SOAT specifically transports sulfated steroid hormones Received 27 November 2015 and is supposed to play a role in testicular steroid regulation and male fertility. The present study aimed Received in revised form to identify novel specific SOAT inhibitors for further in vitro and in vivo studies on SOAT function. More 25 February 2016 than 100 compounds of different molecular structures were screened for inhibition of the SOAT- Accepted 21 March 2016 mediated transport of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in stably transfected SOAT-HEK293 cells. Available online 23 March 2016 Twenty-five of these with IC50 values covering four orders of magnitude were selected as training set for 3D pharmacophore modelling. The SOAT pharmacophore features were calculated by CATALYST and Keywords: consist of three hydrophobic sites and two hydrogen bond acceptors. By substrate database screening, SOAT m DHEAS transport compound T 0511-1698 was predicted as a novel SOAT inhibitor with an IC50 of 15 M. This value was ASBT confirmed by cell-based transport assays. Therefore, the developed SOAT pharmacophore model Pharmacophore model demonstrated its suitability in predicting novel SOAT inhibitors. Inhibitor © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC- SLC10 ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 1. Introduction (Mueller et al., 2015). However, sulfo-conjugated steroid hormones can actively be imported into specific target cells via uptake carriers Sulfated steroid hormones, such as dehydroepiandrosterone and, after hydrolysis by the steroid sulfatase (StS) (so-called sulfa- sulfate (DHEAS) or estrone-3-sulfate, are usually considered to be tase pathway), contribute to the overall steroid regulation (Reed biologically inactive metabolites as they cannot activate classical et al., 2005; Pasqualini and Chetrite, 2012; Labrie, 2015). In 2004 steroid receptors (Strott, 2002). They are present in the blood cir- we identified a novel uptake carrier, named sodium-dependent culation at quite high concentrations, but generally exhibit low organic anion transporter SOAT, which specifically transports membrane permeation due to their physicochemical properties sulfated steroid hormones, such as DHEAS, estrone-3-sulfate, b- estradiol-3-sulfate, pregnenolone sulfate, and androstenediol-3- sulfate in a sodium-dependent manner (Geyer et al., 2004). In rat Abbreviations: ASBT, apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter; BSP, bro- and mouse, Soat showed a broader tissue expression, including mosulfophthalein; DHEAS, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate; FRT, Flp recombinase skin, testis and lung (Geyer et al., 2004; Grosser et al., 2013), while target site; HEK293, Human Embryonic Kidney 293 cells; IC50, inhibitory concen- þ in humans SOAT is predominantly expressed in the testis with tration 50; NTCP, Na /taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide; PBS, phosphate- buffered saline; QSAR, quantitative structure-activity relationship; SLC10, lower expression in the placenta and breast tissue (Geyer et al., solute carrier family 10; SOAT, sodium-dependent organic anion transporter; TC, 2007). In the testis, SOAT/Soat was localised to spermatocytes and taurocholic acid; TLCS, taurolithocholic acid 3-sulfate. round spermatids and, therefore, this carrier is supposed to play a * This manuscript is dedicated to Prof. Dr. Ernst Petzinger who suddenly died role in testicular steroid regulation and male fertility (Fietz et al., fi during nalizing of this manuscript, in remembrance of his person and his aca- 2013; Grosser et al., 2013). More recently, SOAT expression was demic achievements. * Corresponding author. Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Institute of Phar- also demonstrated in breast cancer tissue (unpublished data). Here, macology and Toxicology, Biomedical Research Center Seltersberg (BFS), Schu- SOAT may contribute to the hormone-dependent proliferation due bertstr. 81, 35392 Giessen, Germany. to the import of estrone-3-sulfate and even DHEAS, making SOAT a E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Geyer). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2016.03.028 0303-7207/© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/4.0/). 134 G. Grosser et al. / Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 428 (2016) 133e141 potential drug target for anti-proliferative therapy. number NM_000452. SOAT (gene symbol SLC10A6) phylogenetically belongs to the solute carrier family SLC10, which overall consists of seven mem- bers (SLC10A1eSLC10A7). The founding members of this carrier þ 2.3. Inhibition studies in SOAT-HEK293 and ASBT-HEK293 cells family, the hepatic Na /taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide NTCP (SLC10A1) and the intestinal apical sodium-dependent bile For inhibition studies, 24-well plates were coated with poly-D- acid transporter ASBT (SLC10A2) are important factors for the lysine for better attachment of the cells. Cells (1.25 Â 105 per well) maintenance of the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids between were plated and grown in standard medium for 72 h. SOAT and the liver and the gut (Geyer et al., 2006; Doring€ et al., 2012). ASBT expression was induced by pre-incubation with tetracycline Furthermore, ASBT is of particular interest in several pharmaco- (1 mg/ml). SOAT and ASBT non-expressing control cells were logical aspects. Regarding molecular drug design, ASBT-mediated not pre-treated with tetracycline. Before starting the transport uptake from the gut is used to improve the oral bioavailability of experiments, cells were washed three times with phosphate- drugs by coupling them with bile acids (Kramer et al., 1994; Kramer, buffered saline (PBS; 137 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 1.5 mM KH PO , 2011). Furthermore, ASBT is a drug target for cholesterol-lowering 2 4 7.3 mM Na HPO , pH 7.4, 37 C) and equilibrated with transport therapy, because inhibition of bile acid reuptake in the gut stimu- 2 4 buffer (142.9 mM NaCl, 4.7 mM KCl,1.2 mM MgSO , 1.2 mM KH PO , lates de novo bile acid synthesis from cholesterol in the liver 4 2 4 1.8 mM CaCl , 10 mM glucose and 20 mM HEPES, adjusted to pH (Kramer and Glombik, 2006). 2 7.4). Then, cells were pre-incubated with transport buffer con- In the present study, we searched for novel SOAT inhibitors for taining increasing concentrations of the tested compound for further in vitro and in vivo studies in order to clarify the role of SOAT 5 min. For control, transport buffer without the test compound was in testicular steroid regulation and for proliferation of hormone- used. Transport measurements were started by adding 200 nM dependent breast cancer cells. Therefore, we analysed the SOAT [3H]DHEAS or 200 nM [3H]TC, while keeping the concentrations of inhibitory pattern in detail with a set of more than 100 different the test compounds constant. All uptake experiments were per- compounds and established a 3D pharmacophore model for the formed over 5 min at 37 C. Although SOAT uptake of DHEAS was identification of further inhibitors of SOAT. Because of the very high only linear over 1 min (Geyer et al., 2007), this longer uptake phase amino acid sequence identity of SOAT and ASBT, we also compared was required to ensure adequate uptake ratios for subsequent IC the SOAT pharmacophore model with the already established 50 determinations. However, comparative uptake experiments with pharmacophore model of rabbit Asbt (Baringhaus et al., 1999)in 1 min or 5 min uptake phase revealed identical IC values for order to determine the potential cross-inhibition between both 50 selected compounds (data not shown). The transport phase was carriers. Such a cross-inhibition after oral application of an SOAT terminated by removing the transport buffer and washing the cells inhibitor would be of pharmacological relevance as ASBT inhibition five times with ice-cold PBS. Cell-associated radioactivity and would hamper the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids. protein contents were determined as described previously (Geyer et al., 2007). For calculation of the IC values, the negative con- 2. Material and methods 50 trol (uptake in not carrier expressing HEK293 cells) was set to 0% and the respective positive control (uptake in carrier expressing 2.1. Chemicals and radiochemicals HEK293 cells without inhibitor) was set to 100%. All chemicals, unless otherwise stated, were from Sigma- eAldrich. Zeocin and hygromycin were purchased from Invitrogen. Materials used for cultivation of HEK293 cells were purchased from 2.4. Generation of the 3D QSAR model Gibco and SigmaeAldrich. [3H]Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate ([3H]DHEAS, 94.5 Ci/mmol) and [3H]taurocholic acid ([3H]TC, 10 Ci/ The 3D quantitative structure-activity