Faculty Collaboration Database

Partial agonist activity of α1-adrenergic receptor antagonists for chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 and atypical chemokine receptor 3. PLoS One 2018;13(9):e0204041

Date

09/25/2018

Pubmed ID

30248140

Pubmed Central ID

PMC6152952

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0204041

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85053768829

Abstract

We observed in PRESTO-Tango β-arrestin recruitment assays that the α1-adrenergic receptor (AR) antagonist prazosin activates chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor (CXCR)4. This prompted us to further examine this unexpected pharmacological behavior. We screened a panel of 14 α1/2- and β1/2/3-AR antagonists for CXCR4 and atypical chemokine receptor (ACKR)3 agonist activity in PRESTO-Tango assays against the cognate agonist CXCL12. We observed that multiple α1-AR antagonists activate CXCR4 (CXCL12 = prazosin = cyclazosin > doxazosin) and ACKR3 (CXCL12 = prazosin = cyclazosin > alfuzosin = doxazosin = phentolamine > terazosin = silodosin = tamsulosin). The two strongest CXCR4/ACKR3 activators, prazosin and cyclazosin, were selected for a more detailed evaluation. We found that the drugs dose-dependently activate both receptors in β-arrestin recruitment assays, stimulate ERK1/2 phosphorylation in HEK293 cells overexpressing each receptor, and that their effects on CXCR4 could be inhibited with AMD3100. Both α1-AR antagonists induced significant chemical shift changes in the 1H-13C-heteronuclear single quantum correlation spectrum of CXCR4 and ACKR3 in membranes, suggesting receptor binding. Furthermore, prazosin and cyclazosin induced internalization of endogenous CXCR4/ACKR3 in human vascular smooth muscle cells (hVSMC). While these drugs did not in induce chemotaxis in hVSMC, they inhibited CXCL12-induced chemotaxis with high efficacy and potency (IC50: prazosin-4.5 nM, cyclazosin 11.6 pM). Our findings reveal unexpected pharmacological properties of prazosin, cyclazosin, and likely other α1-AR antagonists. The results of the present study imply that prazosin and cyclazosin are biased or partial CXCR4/ACKR3 agonists, which function as potent CXCL12 antagonists. Our findings could provide a mechanistic basis for previously observed anti-cancer properties of α1-AR antagonists and support the concept that prazosin could be re-purposed for the treatment of disease processes in which CXCR4 and ACKR3 are thought to play significant pathophysiological roles, such as cancer metastases or various autoimmune pathologies.

Author List

Gao X, Abdelkarim H, Albee LJ, Volkman BF, Gaponenko V, Majetschak M

Author

Brian F. Volkman PhD Professor in the Biochemistry department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adrenergic alpha-1 Receptor Antagonists
Binding Sites
Cells, Cultured
Chemokine CXCL12
Chemotaxis
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
Drug Repositioning
HEK293 Cells
Humans
MAP Kinase Signaling System
Myocytes, Smooth Muscle
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular
Prazosin
Quinazolines
Quinoxalines
Receptors, CXCR
Receptors, CXCR4
beta-Arrestins