Design and pharmacological profile of a novel covalent partial agonist for the adenosine A₁ receptor

Partial agonists for G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) provide opportunities for novel pharmacotherapies with enhanced on-target safety compared to full agonists. For the human adenosine A₁ receptor (hA₁AR) this has led to the discovery of capadenoson, which has been in phase IIa clinical trials for heart failure. Accordingly, the design and profiling of novel hA₁AR partial agonists has become an important research focus. In this study, we report on LUF7746, a capadenoson derivative bearing an electrophilic fluorosulfonyl moiety, as an irreversibly binding hA₁AR modulator. Meanwhile, a nonreactive ligand bearing a methylsulfonyl moiety, LUF7747, was designed as a control probe in our study. In a radioligand binding assay, LUF7746's apparent affinity increased to nanomolar range with longer pre-incubation time, suggesting an increasing level of covalent binding over time. Moreover, compared to the reference full agonist CPA, LUF7746 was a partial agonist in a hA₁AR-mediated G protein activation assay and resistant to blockade with an antagonist/inverse agonist. An in silico structure-based docking study combined with site-directed mutagenesis of the hA₁AR demonstrated that amino acid Y271^7.36 was the primary anchor point for the covalent interaction. Additionally, a label-free whole-cell assay was set up to identify LUF7746's irreversible activation of an A₁ receptor-mediated cell morphological response. These results led us to conclude that LUF7746 is a novel covalent hA₁AR partial agonist and a valuable chemical probe for further mapping the receptor activation process. It may also serve as a prototype for a therapeutic approach in which a covalent partial agonist may cause less on-target side effects, conferring enhanced safety compared to a full agonist.