title: Simulation of the different biological activities of diethylstilbestrol (DES) on estrogen receptor alpha and estrogen-related receptor gamma.
abstract: We describe the application of the molecular dynamics (MD) and molecular mechanics-generalized Born/surface area (MM-GB/SA) approaches to the simulation of the different biological activity of diethylstilbestrol (DES) on two highly homologous nuclear receptors-estrogen receptor alpha (ER-alpha) and estrogen-related receptor gamma (ERR-gamma). DES exerts an agonistic effect against ER-alpha and an antagonistic effect against ERR-gamma. Using the x-ray crystal structures of ER-alpha in the canonical agonist bound form (PDB code: 3ERD) and antagonist bound form (PDB code: 3ERT), ERR-gamma homology models have been constructed for the receptor in two different conformations. MM-GB/SA binding free energy calculations of DES in the ER-alpha and ERR-gamma structures suggest that DES exhibits a greater free energy of binding in the agonist bound conformation of ER-alpha, while the antagonist bound conformation is preferred for ERR-gamma. Further dissection of the free energy contributions coupled with calculation of the ligand binding pocket volume suggests that the van der Waals interactions for DES within the smaller binding pocket volume of ERR-gamma are less favorable and this is the main factor for DES antagonism in ERR-gamma. This approach has potential general applicability to the prediction of the biological activity of nuclear receptor ligands.
authors.affiliation: Novartis/UMDNJ Predoctoral Fellowship Program, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Medicine, 625 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08855, USA.
authors.forename: Kiyean
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Romain M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cornell
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004054:Diethylstilbestrol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D008024:Ligands; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000819:agonists / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D008024:Ligands; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; C425824:estrogen receptor gamma; D004054:Diethylstilbestrol