A linear hexapeptide somatostatin antagonist blocks somatostatin activity in vitro and influences growth hormone release in rats.

Somatostatin (SRIF) is the main inhibitory peptide regulating growth hormone (GH) secretion. It has been difficult to establish the role of endogenous SRIF release in the absence of pure SRIF antagonists. Although several SRIF antagonists have recently been described, none have been shown to possess in vivo activity in the absence of added SRIF. Here, an SRIF antagonist with no detectable agonist activity has been identified from a synthetic combinatorial hexapeptide library containing 6.4 x 10(7) unique peptides. Each peptide in the library is amino-terminally acetylated and carboxyl-terminally amidated and consists entirely of D-amino acids. A SRIF-responsive yeast growth assay was used as a primary screening tool, and cAMP accumulation, competitive binding, and microphysiometry also were used to confirm and further characterize SRIF antagonist activity. The hexapeptide library was screened in stepwise iterative fashion to identify AC-178,335, a pure SRIF antagonist of the sequence Ac-hfirwf-NH2. This D-hexapeptide bound SRIF receptor type 2 with an affinity constant (Ki) of 172 +/- 12 nM, blocked SRIF inhibition of adenylate cyclase in vitro (IC50 = 5.1 +/- 1.4 microM), and induced GH release when given alone (50 micrograms intravenously) to anesthetized rats with or without pretreatment with a long-acting SRIF agonist.

A rapid and sensitive binding assay for growth hormone releasing factor.

A binding assay for growth hormone releasing factor (GRF) has been developed using scintillation proximity assay (SPA) technology. Binding conditions were validated by several criteria. Equilibrium binding was attained within three hours at 22 degrees C in crude membrane fractions of HEK293 (293-P2) and GH4C1 (GH4-P1) cells transfected with the porcine GRF receptor. Saturation binding isotherms produced a KD of 296 pM and a Bmax of 4.7 pmols/mg membrane protein in 293-P2 cells. Cells not expressing the GRF receptor displayed no specific binding for the ligand. Competition binding curves produced the following rank order of potency for tested peptides: GRF analogs D-Ala2 = D-Arg2 (IC50 approximately 1 nM) >> PACAP > secretin, VIP (EC50 > 100 nM). Somatostatin (SRIF) binding was also adapted to the SPA format in a GH4C1 cell line transfected with the SRIF receptor subtype 2 (SSTR2) and in HEK293 cells transfected with the SRIF receptor subtype 5 (SSTR5). This assay represents a major improvement for binding measurements of these and potentially many other ligands for G-protein linked receptors, requiring no separation of bound from free hormone, allowing detailed pharmacological evaluations and enabling measurement of equilibrium binding in real time. In the 96-well format, it is suitable for high throughput screening.