Long-acting agonists of human and rodent GLP-2 receptors for studies of the physiology and pharmacological potential of the GLP-2 system.

Background and Purpose: Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) is secreted postprandially from enteroendocrine Lcells and has anabolic action on gut and bone. Short-acting teduglutide is the only approved GLP-2 analog for the treatment of short-bowel syndrome (SBS). To improve the therapeutic effect, we created a series of lipidated GLP-2R agonists.
Experimental Approach: Six GLP-2 analogs were studied in vitro for cAMP accumulation, β-arrestin 1 and 2 recruitment, affinity, and internalization. The trophic actions on intestine and bone were examined in vivo in rodents.
Key Results: Lipidations at lysines introduced at position 12, 16, and 20 of hGLP-2(1-33) were well-tolerated with less than 2.2-fold impaired potency and full efficacy at the hGLP-2R in cAMP accumulation. In contrast, N- and C-terminal (His1 and Lys30) lipidations impaired potency by 4.2- and 45-fold and lowered efficacy to 77% and 85% of hGLP-2, respectively. All variants were similarly active on the rat and mouse GLP-2Rs and the three most active variants displayed increased selectivity for hGLP-2R over hGLP-1R activation, compared to native hGLP-2. Impact on arrestin recruitment and receptor internalization followed that of Gαs-coupling, except for lipidation in position 20, where internalization was more impaired, suggesting desensitization protection. A highly active variant (C16 at position 20) with low internalization and a half-life of 9.5 h in rats showed improved gut and bone tropism with increased weight of small intestine in mice and decreased CTX levels in rats.
Conclusion and Implication: We present novel hGLP-2 agonists suitable for in vivo studies of the GLP-2 system to uncover its pharmacological potential.
Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement MMR, JJH and BH are founders of Bainan Biotech while SG, JAW, and SPS were employed at Bainan Biotech. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.)