Christian E. Elling
University of Copenhagen
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Featured researches published by Christian E. Elling.
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics | 2007
Rasmus Jorgensen; Valentina Kubale; Milka Vrecl; Thue W. Schwartz; Christian E. Elling
The glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor is a promising target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity, and there is great interest in characterizing the pharmacology of the GLP-1 receptor and its ligands. In the present report, we have applied bioluminescence resonance energy transfer2 assays to measure agonist-induced recruitment of βarrestins and G-protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK) 2 to the GLP-1 receptor in addition to traditional measurements of second messenger generation. The peptide hormone oxyntomodulin is described in the literature as a full agonist on the glucagon and GLP-1 receptors. Surprisingly, despite being full agonists in GLP-1 receptor-mediated cAMP accumulation, oxyntomodulin and glucagon were observed to be partial agonists in recruiting βarrestins and GRK2 to the GLP-1 receptor. We suggest that oxyntomodulin and glucagon are biased ligands on the GLP-1 receptor.
Journal of Biological Chemistry | 2004
Birgitte Holst; Nicholas D. Holliday; Anders Bach; Christian E. Elling; Helen M. Cox; Thue W. Schwartz
Three members of the ghrelin receptor family were characterized in parallel: the ghrelin receptor, the neurotensin receptor 2 and the orphan receptor GPR39. In transiently transfected COS-7 and human embryonic kidney 293 cells, all three receptors displayed a high degree of ligand-independent signaling activity. The structurally homologous motilin receptor served as a constitutively silent control; upon agonist stimulation, however, it signaled with a similar efficacy to the three related receptors. The constitutive activity of the ghrelin receptor and of neurotensin receptor 2 through the Gq, phospholipase C pathway was ∼50% of their maximal capacity as determined through inositol phosphate accumulation. These two receptors also showed very high constitutive activity in activation of cAMP response element-driven transcription. GPR39 displayed a clear but lower degree of constitutive activity through the inositol phosphate and cAMP response element pathways. In contrast, GPR39 signaled with the highest constitutive activity in respect of activation of serum response element-dependent transcription, in part, possibly, through G12/13 and Rho kinase. Antibody feeding experiments demonstrated that the epitope-tagged ghrelin receptor was constitutively internalized but could be trapped at the cell surface by an inverse agonist, whereas GPR39 remained at the cell surface. Mutational analysis showed that the constitutive activity of both the ghrelin receptor and GPR39 could systematically be tuned up and down depending on the size and hydrophobicity of the side chain in position VI:16 in the context of an aromatic residue at VII:09 and a large hydrophobic residue at VII:06. It is concluded that the three ghrelin-like receptors display an unusually high degree of constitutive activity, the structural basis for which is determined by an aromatic cluster on the inner face of the extracellular ends of TMs VI and VII.
Journal of Biological Chemistry | 2006
Christian E. Elling; Thomas M. Frimurer; Lars-Ole Gerlach; Rasmus Jorgensen; Birgitte Holst; Thue W. Schwartz
Much evidence indicates that, during activation of seven-transmembrane (7TM) receptors, the intracellular segments of the transmembrane helices (TMs) move apart with large amplitude, rigid body movements of especially TM-VI and TM-VII. In this study, AspIII:08 (Asp113), the anchor point for monoamine binding in TM-III, was used as the starting point to engineer activating metal ion sites between the extracellular segments of theβ2-adrenergic receptor. Cu(II) and Zn(II) alone and in complex with aromatic chelators acted as potent (EC50 decreased to 0.5 μm) and efficacious agonists in sites constructed between positions III:08 (Asp or His), VI:16 (preferentially Cys), and/or VII:06 (preferentially Cys). In molecular models built over the backbone conformation of the inactive rhodopsin structure, the heavy atoms that coordinate the metal ion were located too far away from each other to form high affinity metal ion sites in both the bidentate and potential tridentate settings. This indicates that the residues involved in the main ligand-binding pocket will have to move closer to each other during receptor activation. On the basis of the distance constraints from these activating metal ion sites, we propose a global toggle switch mechanism for 7TM receptor activation in which inward movement of the extracellular segments of especially TM-VI and, to some extent, TM-VII is coupled to the well established outward movement of the intracellular segments of these helices. We suggest that the pivots for these vertical seesaw movements are the highly conserved proline bends of the involved helices.
The EMBO Journal | 1996
Christian E. Elling; Thue W. Schwartz
A high affinity, tridentate metal ion site has been constructed previously by His substitutions in an antagonist binding site located between transmembrane segment (TM)‐V and TM‐VI in the substance P NK‐1 receptor. Here, an attempt is made to probe helix‐helix interactions systematically in the NK‐1 receptor by engineering of bis‐His Zn(II) sites. His residues were introduced at selected positions individually and in combinations in the exterior segments of TM‐II, III and V in both the wild‐type background and after Ala substitution of naturally occurring His residues, and the increase in the affinity for Zn(II) was monitored in competition binding experiments with iodinated substance P or a tritiated non‐peptide antagonist. In this way, two high affinity bis‐His sites were constructed between position 193 in TM‐V (Glu193, G1uV:01) and position 109 in TM‐III (Asn1O9, AsnIII:05) as well as between the neighboring, naturally occurring His108 in TM‐III (HisIII:04) and position 92 in TM‐II (Tyr92, TyrII:24), respectively. Functionally, the coordination of zinc ions at these two sites blocked the receptor as it antagonized the substance P‐induced increase in phosphatidylinositol turnover. It is concluded that the bis‐His zinc sites from the central TM‐III helix to TM‐II and ‐V, respectively, together with the interconnected, previously constructed tridentate site between TM‐V and ‐VI, constitute a basic network of distance constraints for the molecular models of receptors with seven transmembrane segments which, for example, strongly support an anti‐clockwise orientation of the seven helical bundle as viewed from the extracellular space.
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry | 2011
Kathrin Bellmann-Sickert; Christian E. Elling; Andreas N. Madsen; Paul Brian Little; Karsten Lundgren; Lars-Ole Gerlach; Ralf Bergmann; Birgitte Holst; Thue W. Schwartz; Annette G. Beck-Sickinger
The main disadvantages of peptide pharmaceuticals are their rapid degradation and excretion, their low hydrophilicity, and low shelf lifes. These bottlenecks can be circumvented by acylation with fatty acids (lipidation) or polyethylene glycol (PEGylation). Here, we describe the modification of a human pancreatic polypeptide analogue specific for the human (h)Y(2) and hY(4) receptor with PEGs of different size and palmitic acid. Receptor specificity was demonstrated by competitive binding studies. Modifications had only a small influence on binding affinities and no influence on secondary structure. Both modifications improved pharmacokinetic properties of the hPP analogue in vivo and in vitro, however, lipidation showed a greater resistance to degradation and excretion than PEGylation. Furthermore, the lipidated peptide is taken up and degraded solely by the liver but not the kidneys. Lipidation resulted in prolonged action of the hPP analogue in respect of reducing food intake in mice after subcutaneous administration. Therefore, the lipidated hPP analogue could constitute a potential new therapeutic agent against obesity.
British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology | 2013
Linda E. Klumpers; Marianne Fridberg; Marieke L. de Kam; Paul Brian Little; Niels Ole Jensen; Hendrik D. Kleinloog; Christian E. Elling; Joop M. A. van Gerven
AIM Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1 ) antagonists show central side effects, whereas beneficial effects are most likely peripherally mediated. In this study, the peripherally selective CB1 antagonist TM38837 was studied in humans. METHODS This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study. On occasions 1-4, 24 healthy subjects received 5 × 4 mg THC with TM38837 100 mg, 500 mg or placebo, or placebos only. During occasion 5, subjects received placebo TM38837 + THC with rimonabant 60 mg or placebo in parallel groups. Blood collections and pharmacodynamic (PD) effects were assessed frequently. Pharmacokinetics (PK) and PD were quantified using population PK-PD modelling. RESULTS The TM38837 plasma concentration profile was relatively flat compared with rimonabant. TM38837 showed an estimated terminal half-life of 771 h. THC induced effects on VAS feeling high, body sway and heart rate were partly antagonized by rimonabant 60 mg [-26.70% [90% confidence interval (CI) -40.9, -12.6%]; -7.10%, (90%CI -18.1, 5.3%); -7.30%, (90% CI -11.5%, -3.0%) respectively] and TM38837 500 mg [-22.10% (90% CI -34.9, -9.4%); -12.20% (90% CI -21.6%, -1.7%); -8.90% (90% CI -12.8%, -5.1%) respectively]. TM38837 100 mg had no measurable feeling high or body sway effects and limited heart rate effects. CONCLUSIONS Rimonabant showed larger effects than TM38837, but the heart rate effects were similar. TM38837 100 mg had no impact on CNS effects, suggesting that this dose does not penetrate the brain. This TM38837 dose is predicted to be at least equipotent to rimonabant with regard to metabolic disorders in rodent models. These results provide support for further development of TM38837 as a peripherally selective CB1 antagonist for indications such as metabolic disorders, with a reduced propensity for psychiatric side effects.
Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction | 2006
Milka Vrecl; Luka Drinovec; Christian E. Elling; Anders Heding
Using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) we studied opsin oligomerization in heterologous expression systems and quantitatively assessed its oligomerization state. BRET2 saturation and competition experiments were performed with live COS-7 cells expressing Rluc-and GFP2-tagged receptor constructs. BRET2 saturation curves obtained were hyperbolic, and the calculated oligomerization state (N = 1 for dimers) suggested that opsin (N = 1.34 ± 0.25) forms higher oligomers. Very high BRET2 values obtained for the opsin homo-dimer pair indicated a large energy transfer efficiency (E) and for cases where E ≫ 0.1 a modified saturation curve was proposed. The existence of homo-dimer complexes was additionally supported by competition assay results and was also observed in HEK-293 cells. Furthermore, evidence was provided for homo-and hetero-dimerization of family A (β2-adrenergic) and B (gastric inhibitory polypeptide, GIP) receptors. In summary, these experiments demonstrate homo-and hetero-dimerization for opsin, β 2-adrenergic, and GIP receptors.
Journal of Biomolecular Screening | 2007
Lisbeth Elster; Christian E. Elling; Anders Heding
The reported data for compound screening with the bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET2) assay is very limited, and several questions remain unaddressed, such as the behavior of agonists. Eleven β2 adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) agonists were tested for full or partial agonism in an improved version of the receptor/β-arrestin2 BRET2 assay and in 2 cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) assays (column cAMP assay and ALPHAscreen™ cAMP assay). Tested in the highly sensitive ALPHAscreen™ cAMP assay, all selected agonists behaved as full agonists, using isoproterenol as a reference compound. In the less sensitive column cAMP assay, ephedrine and dopamine had a clear partial response. For the BRET2 assay, a highly graded picture was obtained. Moreover, β2-AR antagonists were tested for inverse agonism. Pronounced inverse agonism was detected in the ALPHAscreen™ cAMP assay. Only marginal inverse agonistic responses were seen for alprenolol and pindolol in the column cAMP assay, and no inverse agonism was seen in the BRET2 assay. For the β2-AR, the BRET2 assay may be superior for secondary screening of agonists where a separation of full and partial agonists is needed and the ALPHAscreen™ cAMP assay may be preferred for primary screening of agonists where all receptor activating compounds are desired.
Molecular Pharmacology | 2007
Rasmus Jorgensen; Nicholas D. Holliday; Jakob Lerche Hansen; Milka Vrecl; Anders Heding; Thue W. Schwartz; Christian E. Elling
To analyze the interaction between the neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptor and G-protein coupled receptor kinases (GRKs), we performed bioluminescence resonance energy transfer2 (BRET2) measurements between the family A NK-1 receptor and GRK2 and GRK5 as well as their respective kinase-inactive mutants. We observed agonist induced interaction of both GRK5 and GRK2 with the activated NK-1 receptor. In saturation experiments, we observed GRK5 to interact with the activated receptor in a monophasic manner while GRK2 interacted in a biphasic manner with the low affinity phase corresponding to receptor affinity for GRK5. Agonist induced GRK5 interaction with the receptor was dependent on intact kinase-activity, whereas the high affinity phase of GRK2 interaction was independent of kinase activity. We were surprised to find that the BRET2 saturation experiments indicated that before receptor activation, the full-length NK-1 receptor, but not a functional C-terminal tail-truncated receptor, is preassociated with GRK5 in a relatively low-affinity state. We demonstrate that GRK5 can compete for agonist induced GRK2 interaction with the NK-1 receptor, whereas GRK2 does not compete for receptor interaction with GRK5. We suggest that GRK5 is preassociated with the NK-1 receptor and that GRK5, rather than GRK2, is a key player in competitive regulation of GRK subtype specific interaction with the NK-1 receptor.
Folding and Design | 1997
Christian E. Elling; Kenneth Thirstrup; Søren Møller Nielsen; Siv A. Hjorth; Thue W. Schwartz
G-protein-coupled receptors with their seven transmembrane (7TM) segments constitute the largest superfamily of proteins known. Unfortunately, still only relatively low resolution structures derived from electron cryo-microscopy analysis of 2D crystals are available for these proteins. We have used artificially designed Zn(II) metal-ion binding sites to probe 7TM receptors structurally and functionally and to define some basic distance constraints for molecular modeling. In this way, the relative helical rotation and vertical translocation of transmembrane helices TM-II, TM-III, TM-V, and TM-VI of the tachykinin NK-1 receptor have been restricted. Collectively, these zinc sites constitute a basic network of distance constraints that limit the degrees of freedom of the interhelical contact faces in molecular models of 7TM receptors. The construction of artificially designed metal-ion sites is discussed also in the context of probes for conformational changes occurring during receptor activation.