Discovery of Anti-Hypercholesterolemia Agents Targeting LXRα from Marine Microorganism-Derived Natural Products

J Nat Prod. 2024 Feb 23;87(2):322-331. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.3c01029. Epub 2024 Feb 9.

Abstract

A strategy integrating in silico molecular docking with LXRα and phenotypic assays was adopted to discover anti-hypercholesterolemia agents in a small library containing 205 marine microorganism-derived natural products, collected by our group in recent years. Two fumitremorgin derivatives, 12R,13S-dihydroxyfumitremorgin C (1) and tryprostatin A (3), were identified as potential LXRα agonists, by real-time qPCR and Western blot (WB) analysis, together with a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay. The anti-hypercholesterolemic effects of 1 and 3, together with their mechanisms, were investigated in depth using different cell and mouse models, among which the study of LXRα is of crucial importance. Compound 1 or 3 exhibited the capacity to effectively reverse excessive lipid accumulation in a hepatic steatosis cell model and significantly reduce liver damage and blood cholesterol levels in high cholesterol diet (HCD)-fed wild-type mice, whereas those beneficial effects were completely nullified in HCD-fed LXRα-knockout mice. Furthermore, 1 and 3 outperformed common LXRα agonists by suppressing the expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1) in HCD-fed mice, mitigating lipotoxicity. Thus, this study highlights the discovery of two marine microorganism-derived anti-hypercholesterolemia agents targeting LXRα.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cholesterol / metabolism
  • Hypercholesterolemia* / drug therapy
  • Liver
  • Liver X Receptors / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Orphan Nuclear Receptors* / metabolism
  • Orphan Nuclear Receptors* / pharmacology

Substances

  • Cholesterol
  • Liver X Receptors
  • Orphan Nuclear Receptors
  • tryprostatin A
  • tryptoquivaline