Development of High Affinity Calcitonin Analog Fragments Targeting Extracellular Domains of Calcitonin Family Receptors

The calcitonin and amylin receptors (CTR and AMY receptors) are the drug targets for osteoporosis and diabetes treatment, respectively. Salmon calcitonin (sCT) and pramlintide were developed as peptide drugs that activate these receptors. However, next-generation drugs with improved receptor binding profiles are desirable for more effective pharmacotherapy. The extracellular domain (ECD) of CTR was reported as the critical binding site for the C-terminal half of sCT. For the screening of high-affinity sCT analog fragments, purified CTR ECD was used for fluorescence polarization/anisotropy peptide binding assay. When three mutations (N26D, S29P, and P32HYP) were introduced to the sCT(22–32) fragment, sCT(22–32) affinity for the CTR ECD was increased by 21-fold. CTR was reported to form a complex with receptor activity-modifying protein (RAMP), and the CTR:RAMP complexes function as amylin receptors with increased binding for the peptide hormone amylin. All three types of functional AMY receptor ECDs were prepared and tested for the binding of the mutated sCT(22–32). Interestingly, the mutated sCT(22–32) also retained its high affinity for all three types of the AMY receptor ECDs. In summary, the mutated sCT(22–32) showing high affinity for CTR and AMY receptor ECDs could be considered for developing the next-generation peptide agonists.