A Novel Nuclear Receptor Ligand, Digoxigenin, is a Selective Antagonist of Liver-X-receptors

Recent progress in chemical biology of natural products has revealed the multiligandable nature, and exploration of new natural product targets often leads to the discovery of novel drug leads. We focused on digoxigenin (1), which is an aglycone of the steroid glycoside digoxin. The in vitro binding assay using the ligand binding domain of nuclear receptors indicated that 1 is a potential antagonist of liver-X-receptors, a result that was supported by an in silico docking study.