19F NMR study on the complex of fluorinated vitamin D derivatives with vitamin D receptor: elucidation of the conformation of vitamin D ligands accommodated in the receptor.

Nuclear receptors mediate allosteric communications where ligand binding initiates a cascade of signal transduction. The interaction of vitamin D with vitamin D receptor (VDR) was investigated by (19)F NMR spectroscopy of the complexes of three fluorinated vitamin D derivatives with the full-length rat VDR-LBD. In the (19)F NMR spectra of the VDR-ligand complexes, the A-ring of 4,4-difluoro-1,25(OH)2D3 was revealed to adopt β-conformation in the VDR in solution, and the spectra were shown to be dependent on the dissociation constant. While the complex of 4,4-difluoro-1,25(OH)2D3 with VDR exhibited a clear distinguishable (19)F NMR spectrum, those of (19)F-1,25(OH)2D3 stereoisomers, which have 10-fold higher VDR affinity than 4,4-difluoro-1,25(OH)2D3, did not. The solid-phase NMR technique was useful for (19)F-1,25(OH)2D3 stereoisomers. The fluorinated vitamin D derivatives showed marked changes in the chemical shift (Δ4-19.7 ppm) upon VDR-complex formation, and the ab initio MO method suggested that van der Waals interactions play a major role in the complex formation.