GPCR Agonist-to-Antagonist Conversion: Enabling the Design of Nucleoside Functional Switches for the A_2AAdenosine Receptor

Modulators of the G protein-coupled A_2Aadenosine receptor (A_2AAR) have been considered promising agents to treat Parkinson's disease, inflammation, cancer, and central nervous system disorders. Herein, we demonstrate that a thiophene modification at the C8 position in the common adenine scaffold converted an A_2AAR agonist into an antagonist. We synthesized and characterized a novel A_2AAR antagonist, 2 (LJ-4517), with K_i= 18.3 nM. X-ray crystallographic structures of 2 in complex with two thermostabilized A_2AAR constructs were solved at 2.05 and 2.80 Å resolutions. In contrast to A_2AAR agonists, which simultaneously interact with both Ser277^7.42and His278^7.43, 2 only transiently contacts His278^7.43, which can be direct or water-mediated. The n-hexynyl group of 2 extends into an A_2AAR exosite. Structural analysis revealed that the introduced thiophene modification restricted receptor conformational rearrangements required for subsequent activation. This approach can expand the repertoire of adenosine receptor antagonists that can be designed based on available agonist scaffolds.