Molecular Modeling of Allosteric Site of Isoform-Specific Inhibition of the Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor PPARγ

Abstract

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a nuclear receptor and controls a number of gene expressions. The ligand binding domain (LBD) of PPARγ is large and involves two binding sites: orthosteric and allosteric binding sites. Increased evidence has shown that PPARγ is an oncogene and thus the PPARγ antagonists have potential as anticancer agents. In this paper, we use Glide Dock approach to determine which binding site, orthosteric or allosteric, would be a preferred pocket for PPARγ antagonist binding, though antidiabetic drugs such as thiazolidinediones (TZDs) bind to the orthosteric site. The Glide Dock results show that the binding of PPARγ antagonists at the allosteric site yielded results that were much closer to the experimental data than at the orthosteric site. The PPARγ antagonists seem to selectively bind to residues Lys265, Ser342 and Arg288 at the allosteric binding site, whereas PPARγ agonists would selectively bind to residues Leu228, Phe363, and His449, though Phe282 and Lys367 may also play a role for agonist binding at the orthosteric binding pocket. This finding will provide new perspectives in the design and optimization of selective and potent PPARγ antagonists or agonists.