Q1 · CROSS-FIELD
ArticleOA
Author: Merscher, Sandra  ; Pedigo, Christopher  ; Varona Santos, Javier  ; Roever, Stephan  ; Kemmer, Christian  ; Mitrofanova, Alla  ; Fornoni, Alessia  ; Carralot, Jean-Philippe  ; Pressly, Jeffrey  ; Sloan, Alexis  ; Ducasa, G Michelle  ; Sgrignani, Jacopo  ; Maugeais, Cyrille  ; Wright, Matthew B  ; Prunotto, Marco  ; Cavalli, Andrea  ; Mendez, Armando  ; Barisoni, Laura  ; Ahmad, Anis  ; Molina, Judith  ; Ge, Mengyuan 
AbstractImpaired cellular cholesterol efflux is a key factor in the progression of renal, cardiovascular, and autoimmune diseases. Here we describe a class of 5-arylnicotinamide compounds, identified through phenotypic drug discovery, that upregulate ABCA1-dependent cholesterol efflux by targeting Oxysterol Binding Protein Like 7 (OSBPL7). OSBPL7 was identified as the molecular target of these compounds through a chemical biology approach, employing a photoactivatable 5-arylnicotinamide derivative in a cellular cross-linking/immunoprecipitation assay. Further evaluation of two compounds (Cpd A and Cpd G) showed that they induced ABCA1 and cholesterol efflux from podocytes in vitro and normalized proteinuria and prevented renal function decline in mouse models of proteinuric kidney disease: Adriamycin-induced nephropathy and Alport Syndrome. In conclusion, we show that small molecule drugs targeting OSBPL7 reveal an alternative mechanism to upregulate ABCA1, and may represent a promising new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of renal diseases and other disorders of cellular cholesterol homeostasis.