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The estrogen receptor binding affinities of bivalent raloxifene ligands tethered by flexible spacers of different lengths have been evaluated in vitro. Two bivalent binding modes, intra- and intermolecular, were hypothesized to explain their different binding properties. The binding affinities of these bivalent ligands in an aqueous environment are influenced by their conformations, which can be determined by 2D NMR and UV spectral methods. Moreover, computer modeling and simulations were performed to explain the binding modes of these bivalent ligands and to estimate the conformational entropy difference between their unbound and bound states. It was found that bivalent ligands tethered by long spacers had weaker binding affinities because of the shielding of the binding moieties that results from their folded conformations; those tethered by short spacers had stronger affinities because they exposed their ligands to the receptor.

Estrogen receptors are known drug targets that have been linked to several kinds of cancer. The structure of the estrogen receptor ligand binding domain is available and reveals a homodimeric layout. In order to improve the binding affinity of known estrogen receptor inhibitors, bivalent compounds have been developed that consist of two individual ligands linked by flexible tethers serving as spacers. So far, binding affinities of the bivalent compounds do not surpass their monovalent counterparts. In this article, we focus our attention on the molecular spacers that are used to connect the individual ligands to form bivalent compounds, and describe their thermodynamic contribution during the ligand binding process. We use computational methods to predict structural and entropic parameters of different spacer structures. We find that flexible spacers introduce a number of effects that may interfere with ligand binding and possibly can be connected to the low binding affinities that have been reported in binding assays. Based on these findings, we try to provide guidelines for the design of novel molecular spacers.

The estrogen receptor (ER) is a hormone-regulated transcription factor that binds, as a dimer, to estrogens and to specific DNA sequences. To explore at a fundamental level the geometric and topological features of bivalent-ligand binding to the ER dimer, dimeric ER crystal structures were used to rationally design nonsteroidal bivalent estrogen ligands. Guided by this structure-based ligand design, we prepared two series of bivalent ligands (agonists and antagonists) tethered by flexible spacers of varying lengths (7–47Å) and evaluated their ER-binding affinities for the two ER subtypes and their biological activities in cell lines. Bivalent ligands based on the agonist diethylstilbestrol (DES) proved to be poor candidates, but bivalent ligands based on the antagonist hydroxytamoxifen (OHT) were well suited for intensive study. Binding affinities of the OHT-based bivalent ligands were related to spacer length in a distinctive fashion, reaching two maximum values at 14 and 29Å in both ER subtypes. These results demonstrate that the bivalent concept can operate in determining ER-ligand binding affinity and suggest that two distinct modes operate for the binding of bivalent estrogen ligands to the ER dimers, an intermolecular as well as an intramolecular mode. Our insights, particularly the possibility of intramolecular bivalent binding on a single ER monomer, may provide an alternative strategy to prepare more selective and active ER antagonists for endocrine therapy of breast cancer.

DNA‐Schablone für niedermolekulare Verbindungen: Durch Klick‐Reaktionen wurden Steroidanaloga mit DNA verknüpft und über ternäre DNA‐Komplexe bivalent präsentiert. Die räumliche Rasterung des Östrogenrezeptors zeigte den Abstand zwischen den gebundenen Liganden auf und gab Hinweise auf eine zweite hydrophobe Bindungsstelle. Das Bild zeigt einen DNA(schwarz)‐Raloxifen(orange)‐Komplex in der Ligandenbindungsdomäne des Rezeptors.

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