In our search for novel subtype-selective estrogen receptor (ER) ligands, we have examined various heterocyclic units as core structural elements. Here, we have investigated the fused, bicyclic pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine core, which is a system that allows for analogues to be readily assembled in a library-like fashion. This series of pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine ER ligands provided us with a new pharmacological profile for an ER ligand: compounds that are passive on both ERs, with a distinct potency selectivity in favor of ERbeta. The most distinctive ligand in this series, 2-phenyl-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5,7-bis(trifluoromethyl)-pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine, was 36-fold selective for ERbeta in binding. Curiously, on the basis of molecular modeling, the ERbeta binding selectivity of compounds in this series appears to be derived from differing orientations that they adapt in the ligand binding pockets of ERalpha vs ERbeta. In transcription assays this pyrazolopyrimidine was fully effective as an ERbeta antagonist while exhibiting no significant activity on ERalpha. Thus, this ligand functions as a potency- and efficacy-selective ERbeta antagonist that would abrogate estrogen action through ERbeta with minimal effects on its activity through ERalpha; as such, it could be used to study the biological function of ERbeta.

This report describes the discovery of RAD140, a potent, orally bioavailable, nonsteroidal selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM). The characterization of RAD140 in several preclinical models of anabolic androgen action is also described.KEYWORDS Androgen, SARM, cachexia, oxadiazole, Herschberger assay, primate T he androgen receptor (AR) is a member of the steroid hormone nuclear receptor superfamily that includes estrogen, progestin, glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors. 1 The binding of the prototypical, endogeneously produced androgen testosterone (1) and the important active metabolite dihydrotestosterone (2) to AR initiates a remarkably diverse array of biological activities that can vary according to a subject's sex, age and hormonal status. The activity of AR is critical to normal human sexual development and function, but beyond this signature role, AR activation also has important effects on diverse targets such as bone, liver, muscle and the central nervous system. 2,3 The therapeutic potential of androgen signaling is well-appreciated in the medicinal chemistry community, and for quite some time, chemists have sought compounds that selectively stimulate muscle and bone growth while minimizing the proliferative and/or hypertrophic effects on sex tissues such as the prostate in males and clitoris in females. 4,5 Such compounds have been termed selective androgen receptor modulators or SARMs. In this regard, the prototypical and endogenous androgen, testosterone, is considered to be a logical benchmark comparator. Compound 3 is the GTx SARM S-22 and compound 4 is the BMS SARM 562929, both of which have been reported in the literature as being orally active compounds with selectivity for muscle over prostate relative to testosterone in various preclinical models. 6,7 The possibility of obtaining compounds having tissueselective activities that are different from that of the endogenous benchmark testosterone might derive from the fact that typical AR receptor activation, which is initiated by the binding of a molecule with affinity for the AR to the AR ligand binding domain, is then followed by a rather remarkable, coordinated series of interactions: These may include a change in receptor topology, dissociation of heat shock proteins, receptor dimerization, receptor phosphorylation, rapid-signaling events, translocation to the nucleus (AR), association with many different coregulatory proteins to form a transcriptional complex that results in the activation or suppression of RNA synthesis from AR-modulated genes, and finally receptor degradation. 8 Since each receptor-ligand complex topology is unique to that ligand structure, one can appreciate that the interaction of any particular ligand-receptor complex with coregulatory proteins is likely to be unique to that ligand as well. Furthermore, because the expression level of AR, the constellation and expression level of coregulatory proteins, and the patterns of post-transcriptional regulatory events differ in each type of androgen...

The caption of Figure 7 incorrectly suggests that Sprague-Dawley rats were used in studies of HPA activation. Studies of HPA activation were performed using CD-1 mice (as described everywhere else in the manuscript).

2,3-Diarylpyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines are estrogen receptor (ER) antagonists of modest potency that we have described previously. Guided by the crystal structure of an ER-ligand complex that we have obtained with one of these compounds, we prepared analogs that contain a basic side chain at the 2- or 3-aryl group and quickly found one that, according to the structure-based prediction, shows an increase in binding affinity and antagonist potency and a loss of residual agonist activity.