Bis-indole derivatives including 1,1-bis(3’-indolyl)-1-(4-chlorophenyl)methane (DIM-C-pPhCl) and substituted quinolines such as chloroquine (CQ) and amodiaquine (AQ) are nuclear receptor 4A2 (NR4A2, Nurr1) ligands and they exhibit anti-inflammatory activities in mouse and rat models of Parkinson’s disease, respectively. However, computational modeling demonstrates that the quinoline derivatives interact with the ligand binding domain whereas the bis-indoles preferentially interact with a C-terminal cofactor binding site of NR4A2. In this study, the effects of DIM-C-pPhCl and related analogs were compared to CQ/AQ as inducers of NR4A2-responsive genes including vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), osteopontin (OPN), proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and neuropilin 1 (NRP1) in Panc1 and Panc28 pancreatic cancer cells. The results demonstrate that, among the bis-indole analogs, their relative potencies as inducers were structure-gene and cell context dependent. In contrast, CQ and AQ were significantly less potent than the bis-indole derivatives and, for some of the NR4A2-regulated genes, CQ and AQ were inactive as inducers. These results demonstrate that, although bis-indole and quinoline derivatives have been characterized as activators of NR4A2-dependent gene expression, these two classes of compounds exhibit different activities, indicating that they are selective NR4A2 modulators.
