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As a cellular bile acid sensor, farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and the membrane G-coupled receptor (GPBAR1) participate in maintaining bile acid, lipid, and glucose homeostasis. To date, several selective and dual agonists have been developed as promising pharmacological approach to metabolic disorders, with most of them possessing an acidic conjugable function that might compromise their pharmacokinetic distribution. Here, guided by docking calculations, nonacidic 6-ethyl cholane derivatives have been prepared. In vitro pharmacological characterization resulted in the identification of bile acid receptor modulators with improved pharmacokinetic properties.

[Image: see text] Acetaminophen misuse is a leading cause of acute liver failure and liver transplantation for which therapy is poorly effective. FXR ligands have shown effective in reducing liver injury in several experimental and clinical settings. In this Letter, we have elaborated on the structure of GW4064, the first nonsteroidal agonist for FXR, to identify novel isoxazoles endowed with FXR agonistic activity and improved ADME properties. The pharmacological characterization and molecular docking studies for the structure–activity rationalization allowed the identification of several FXR agonists with nanomolar potency in transactivation and SRC-1 recruitment assays. This characterization resulted in the identification of a potent FXR agonist, compound 20 that was orally active, and rescued mice from acute liver failure caused by acetaminophen overdose in a FXR-dependent manner.

Activation of FXR receptor has shown effective in several liver injury. In this study, starting from GW4064, the first non-steroidal FXR ligand, we have elaborated and synthesized a library of derivates in order to improve the agonistic activity on FXR and the ADME properties. Maintaining the central isoxazole core with the 2,6-dichloro-substituted phenyl moiety at C-3 and the isopropyl group at C-5 we have introduced on the oxymethylene at C-4 different phenols using Mitsunobu reactions. The pharmacological characterization and molecular docking studies for the structure−acqvity raqonalizaqon, allowed the idenqficaqon of several FXR agonists. Compound 17 has been proved the most promising lead of this library, combining good pharmacokinetic properties with interesting FXR activity in vivo, and preventing acetaminopheninduced liver injury in mice.