Development of time resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based assay for FXR antagonist discovery

FXR (farnesoid X receptor, NRIH4), a nuclear receptor, plays a major role in the control of cholesterol metabolism. FXR ligands have been investigated in preclinical studies for targeted therapy against metabolic diseases, but have shown limitations. Therefore, there is a need for new agonist or antagonist ligands of FXR, both for potential clinical applications, as well as to further elucidate its biological functions. Here we describe the use of the X-ray crystal structure of FXR complexed with the potent small molecule agonist GW4064 to design and synthesize a novel fluorescent, high-affinity probe (DY246) for time resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) assays. We then used the TR-FRET assay for high throughput screening of a library of over 5000 bioactive compounds. From this library, we identified 13 compounds that act as putative FXR transcriptional antagonists.