Research resource: Modulators of glucocorticoid receptor activity identified by a new high-throughput screening assay

Glucocorticoid steroids affect almost every type of tissue and thus are widely used to treat a variety of human pathological conditions. However, the severity of numerous side effects limits the frequency and duration of glucocorticoid treatments. Of the numerous approaches to control off-target responses to glucocorticoids, small molecules and pharmaceuticals offer several advantages. Here we describe a new, extended high-throughput screen in intact cells to identify small molecule modulators of dexamethasone-induced glucocorticoid receptor (GR) transcriptional activity. The novelty of this assay is that it monitors changes in both GR maximal activity (A<sub>max</sub>) and EC<sub>50</sub> (the position of the dexamethasone dose-response curve). Upon screening 1280 chemicals, 10 with the greatest changes in the absolute value of A<sub>max</sub> or EC<sub>50</sub> were selected for further examination. Qualitatively identical behaviors for 60% to 90% of the chemicals were observed in a completely different system, suggesting that other systems will be similarly affected by these chemicals. Additional analysis of the 10 chemicals in a recently described competition assay determined their kinetically defined mechanism and site of action. Some chemicals had similar mechanisms of action despite divergent effects on the level of the GR-induced product. These combined assays offer a straightforward method of identifying numerous new pharmaceuticals that can alter GR transactivation in ways that could be clinically useful. 2014 by the Endocrine Societ

Structure activity relationships of human galactokinase inhibitors

Classic Galactosemia is a rare inborn error of metabolism that is caused by deficiency of galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT), an enzyme within the Leloir pathway that is responsible for the conversion of galactose-1-phosphate (gal-1-p) and UDP-glucose to glucose-1-phosphate and UDP-galactose. This deficiency results in elevated intracellular concentrations of its substrate, gal-1-p, and this increased concentration is believed to be the major pathogenic mechanism in Classic Galactosemia. Galactokinase (GALK) is an upstream enzyme of GALT in the Leloir pathway and is responsible for conversion of galactose and ATP to gal-1-p and ADP. Therefore, it was hypothesized that the identification of a small-molecule inhibitor of human GALK would act to prevent the accumulation of gal-1-p and offer a novel entry therapy for this disorder. Herein we describe a quantitative high-throughput screening campaign that identified a single chemotype that was optimized and validated as a GALK inhibito