In vitro pharmacological characterization of standard and new lysophosphatidic acid receptor antagonists using dynamic mass redistribution assay

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a bioactive phospholipid that acts as an agonist of six G protein-coupled receptors named LPA receptors (LPA(1-6)). LPA elicits diverse intracellular events and modulates several biological functions, including cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Overactivation of the LPA–LPA receptor system is reported to be involved in several pathologies, including cancer, neuropathic pain, fibrotic diseases, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes. Thus, LPA receptor modulators may be clinically relevant in numerous diseases, making the identification and pharmacodynamic characterization of new LPA receptor ligands of strong interest. In the present work, label-free dynamic mass redistribution (DMR) assay has been used to evaluate the pharmacological activity of some LPA(1) and LPA(2) standard antagonists at the recombinant human LPA(1) and LPA(2) receptors. These results are compared to those obtained in parallel experiments with the calcium mobilization assay. Additionally, the same experimental protocol has been used for the pharmacological characterization of the new compound CHI. KI 16425, RO 6842262, and BMS-986020 behaved as LPA(1) inverse agonists in DMR experiments and as LPA(1) antagonists in calcium mobilization assays. Amgen compound 35 behaved as an LPA(2) antagonist, while Merck compound 20 from WO2012028243 was detected as an LPA(2) inverse agonist using the DMR test. Of note, for all the compounds, similar potency values were estimated by DMR and calcium assay. The new compound CHI was found to be an LPA(1) inverse agonist, but with potency lower than that of the standard compounds. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that DMR assay can be successfully used to characterize LPA(1) and LPA(2) ligands. Compared to the classical calcium mobilization assay, DMR offers some advantages, in particular allowing the identification of inverse agonists. Finally, in the frame of this study, a new LPA(1) inverse agonist has been identified.