Hisaya Kuroda

Structure-activity relationship of endothelin: Importance of charged groups

Endothelin (ET)-related peptides including ET-1 (1-39) were synthesized, and their constricting activity in rat pulmonary artery rings and pressor activity in unanesthetized rat were measured to elucidate their structure-activity relationship. The vasoconstrictor activities of ET-2, ET-3 and sarafotoxin S6b were one-half, one-60th and one-third that of ET-1, respectively. Such differences in biological activities should mainly arise from sequence heterogeneity at the N-terminal portion, especially at positions 4 to 7. All of the blocked ETs at the amino or carboxyl termini showed greatly decreased activities. A monocyclic analog, in which Cys3 and Cys11 were replaced by Ala, showed one-third the activity of ET-1; however, its deamino dicarba analog was almost completely inactive. Significant activities were retained even with replacement of amino acids at positions Ser4, Ser5, Leu6, Met7, Lys9, Tyr13, and Trp21 by Ala, Ala, Gly, Met(0), Leu, Phe, and Tyr or Phe, respectively. On the other hand, replacement of Asp8, Glu10 and Phe14 by Asn, Gln and Ala, respectively, resulted in complete loss of the biological activity. These results indicated that two disulfide bonds in ET molecule were not essential for the expression of vasoconstricting activity. Both terminal amino and carboxyl groups, carboxyl groups of Asp8 and Glu10, and the aromatic group of Phe14 seemed to be contributing, more or less, to the expression of the biological activities.

Synthesis of endothelin-1 analogues, endothelin-3, and sarafotoxin S6b: Structure - activity relationships

Summary Two disulfide analogues (types A and B) of endothelin-3 (ET-3; formerly, rat ET), sarafotoxin S6b, and apamin, were synthesized to determine their disulfide structures as in the case of endothelin-1 (ET-1; formerly human and porcine ET). The disulfide structures of ET-3 and sarafotoxin S6b were found to be identical with that of ET-1 (type A) but distinct from that of apamin (type B). The vasoconstricting activities of ET-3 and sarafotoxin S6b were about one-60th and one-third that of ET-1, respectively. Such different biological potencies between endothelins and sarafotoxin S6b could be largely attributed to the sequence heterogeneity at the N-terminal portion. ET-1 analogues were also synthesized to clarify the structure-activity relationships. The opening of any disulfide bond in the ET-1 molecule extremely decreased the activity, while oxidation of the Met residue did not alter it. Amidation of the terminal COOH group and extension of the Lys-Arg sequence to the N-terminus led to 16-and 540-fold decreases in activity, respectively. Removal of the C-terminal Trp residue resulted in complete loss of the activity. The other disulfide analogues (type B and C) of ET-1 showed markedly lower activity than the parent molecule (type A). These results indicated the importance of the whole molecule with the proper double cyclic structure for determining its active conformation.