Frontiers in Endocrinology (Jan 2023)

Discovery of a novel, liver-targeted thyroid hormone receptor-β agonist, CS271011, in the treatment of lipid metabolism disorders

  • Suwen Lin,
  • Shengjian Huang,
  • Shengjian Huang,
  • Zhou Deng,
  • Yu Zhang,
  • Lin Huang,
  • Yanyi Wu,
  • Shuyan Lv,
  • Zhiyi Wang,
  • Ning Huang,
  • Lan Wang,
  • Ziqi Chen,
  • Guangyin Yu,
  • Weihua Yin,
  • You Zhou,
  • Zhengyu Fang,
  • Zhengyu Fang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1109615
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

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IntroductionThyroid hormone receptor β (THR-β) plays a critical role in metabolism regulation and has become an attractive target for treating lipid metabolism disorders in recent years. Thus, in this study, we discovered CS271011, a novel THR-β agonist, and assessed the safety and efficiency of CS271011 compared to MGL-3196 in vitro and in vivo. MethodsWe conducted luciferase reporter gene assays to assess the activation of THR-β and α in vitro. C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks, CS271011 was administered by gavage at the dose of 1 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg, and MGL-3196 was administered at the dose of 3 mg/kg for 10 weeks. Body weight, food intake, serum and hepatic parameters, histological analysis, pharmacokinetic studies, RNA sequencing of the liver and heart, and expression of hepatic lipid-metabolic genes were determined to evaluate the safety and efficiency of CS271011. ResultsCompared with MGL-3196, CS271011 showed higher THR-β activation in vitro. In the diet-induced obesity mice model, CS271011 demonstrated favourable pharmacokinetic properties in mice and was enriched in the liver. Finally, CS271011 improved dyslipidaemia and reduced liver steatosis in the diet-induced obesity murine model. Mechanistically, CS271011 and MGL-3196 showed potent regulation of lipid metabolism-related genes. ConclusionsCS271011 is a potent and liver-targeted THR-β agonist for treating lipid metabolism disorders.

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