Selective allosteric ligand activation of the retinoid X receptor heterodimers of NGFI-B and Nurr1.

NGFI-B, an orphan member of the NR4A subfamily of the nuclear receptors, recognizes specific sequences in the promoters of neuronal target genes as a monomer. Although NGFI-B also forms a heterodimer with the retinoid X receptor (RXR), a receptor for 9-cis retinoic acid (9CRA), endogenous targets of the heterodimer have not been identified. We investigated the role of RXR ligand binding in NGFI-B/RXR activation and found that dibenzodiazepine-derived ligands, such as the weak RXR agonist HX600, selectively activate NGFI-B/RXR heterodimers. HX600 also activated the heterodimer formed by RXR and Nurr1, another NR4A subfamily receptor. In an assembly assay that detects ligand-dependent reconstruction of the ligand-binding domain, HX600 and not 9CRA induced an allosteric ligand effect on NGFI-B through RXRalpha binding. The data indicate that the RXR heterodimers of NGFI-B and Nurr1 are selectively activated by the RXR ligand HX600, and that compounds such as HX600 will be valuable tools in investigating NGFI-B and Nurr1 function.