PUBLICATION

A high throughput zebrafish chemical screen reveals ALK5 and non-canonical androgen signalling as modulators of the pkd2-/- phenotype

Authors
Metzner, A., Griffiths, J.D., Streets, A.J., Markham, E., Philippou, T., Van Eeden, F.J.M., Ong, A.C.M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-200111-1
Date
2020
Source
Scientific Reports   10: 72 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Markham, Elenor R., van Eeden, Freek
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified/metabolism
  • Apoptosis/drug effects
  • Dogs
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Humans
  • Madin Darby Canine Kidney Cells
  • Phenotype
  • Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant/metabolism
  • Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant/pathology
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type I/antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type I/metabolism
  • Receptors, Androgen/metabolism
  • Signal Transduction/drug effects*
  • Small Molecule Libraries/chemistry
  • Small Molecule Libraries/metabolism
  • Small Molecule Libraries/pharmacology*
  • TRPP Cation Channels/deficiency
  • TRPP Cation Channels/genetics*
  • TRPP Cation Channels/metabolism
  • Zebrafish
  • Zebrafish Proteins/deficiency
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
PubMed
31919453 Full text @ Sci. Rep.
Abstract
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common monogenic cause of end-stage renal failure in humans and results from germline mutations in PKD1 or PKD2. Despite the recent approval of tolvaptan, safer and more effective alternative drugs are clearly needed to slow disease progression. As a first step in drug discovery, we conducted an unbiased chemical screen on zebrafish pkd2 mutant embryos using two publicly available compound libraries (Spectrum, PKIS) totalling 2,367 compounds to identify novel treatments for ADPKD. Using dorsal tail curvature as the assay readout, three major chemical classes (steroids, coumarins, flavonoids) were identified from the Spectrum library as the most promising candidates to be tested on human PKD1 cystic cells. Amongst these were an androgen, 5α-androstane 3,17-dione, detected as the strongest enhancer of the pkd2 phenotype but whose effect was found to be independent of the canonical androgen receptor pathway. From the PKIS library, we identified several ALK5 kinase inhibitors as strong suppressors of the pkd2 tail phenotype and in vitro cyst expansion. In summary, our results identify ALK5 and non-canonical androgen receptors as potential therapeutic targets for further evaluation in drug development for ADPKD.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping