In vitro activity: GW3965 recruits the steroid receptor coactivator 1 to human LXRα with EC50 of 125 nM in a cell-free ligand-sensing assay. GW3965 shows a potent antagonistic activity against hLXRα and hLXRβ in cell-based assays with EC50 of 190 nM and 30 nM, respectively. Besides, GW3965 also sows excellent selectivity over other nuclear receptors. In human islets, GW3965 (1 μM) reduces expression of selected pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-8, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and tissue factor.

Kinase Assay: GW3965 hydrochloride is a potent and selective liver X receptor (LXR) agonist with EC50s of 190 and 30 nM for hLXRα and hLXRβ , respectively.

Cell Assay: Cells are seeded in 96 wells and are treated after 24 hours with different drugs indicated in each experiment in medium containing 1% FBS or lipoprotein deficient serum. Relative proliferation is determined using Cell Proliferation Assay Kit. Cells are incubated 1.5 hrs after adding tetrazolium salt WST-1 [2-(4-iodophenyl)-3- (4-nitrophenyl)-5-(2, 4-disulfo-phenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, monosodium salt] at 5% CO2, 37oC and the absorbance of the treated and untreated cells are measured using a microplate reader at 420 to 480 nm. Cells seeded in 12 well plates are counted using a hemocytometer, and dead cells are assessed using trypan blue exclusion assays.