Covalent Ligand Research Articles

High-Throughput Kinetic Analysis for Target-Directed Covalent Ligand Discovery.

Cysteine‐reactive small molecules are used as chemical probes of biological systems and as medicines. Identifying high‐quality covalent ligands requires comprehensive kinetic analysis to distinguish selective binders from pan‐reactive compounds. Quantitative irreversible tethering (qIT), a general method for screening cysteine‐reactive small molecules based upon the maximization of kinetic selectivity, is described. This method was applied prospectively to discover covalent fragments that target the clinically important cell cycle regulator Cdk2. Crystal structures of the inhibitor complexes validate the approach and guide further optimization. The power of this technique is highlighted by the identification of a Cdk2‐selective allosteric (type IV) kinase inhibitor whose novel mode‐of‐action could be exploited therapeutically.

Covalent Allosteric Probe for the Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor2: Design, Synthesis, and Pharmacological Characterization.

Covalent labeling of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) by small molecules is a powerful approach to understand binding modes, mechanism of action, pharmacology, and even facilitate structure elucidation. We report the first covalent positive allosteric modulator (PAM) for a class C GPCR, the mGlu2 receptor. Three putatively covalent mGlu2 PAMs were designed and synthesized. Pharmacological characterization identified 2 to bind the receptor covalently. Computational modeling combined with receptor mutagenesis revealed T7917.29×30 as the likely position of covalent interaction. We show how this covalent ligand can be used to characterize the PAM binding mode and that it is a valuable tool compound in studying receptor function and binding kinetics. Our findings advance the understanding of the mGlu2 PAM interaction and suggest that 2 is a valuable probe for further structural and chemical biology approaches.

DNA-Compatible Solid-Phase Combinatorial Synthesis of β-Cyanoacrylamides and Related Electrophiles.

We demonstrate that the Knoevenagel condensation can be exploited in combinatorial synthesis on the solid phase. Condensation products from such reactions were structurally characterized, and their Michael reactivity with thiol and phosphine nucleophiles is described. Cyanoacrylamides were previously reported to react reversibly with thiols, and notably, we show that dilution into low pH buffer can trap covalent adducts, which are isolable via chromatography. Finally, we synthesized both traditional and DNA-encoded one-bead, one-compound libraries containing cyanoacrylamides as a source of cysteine-reactive reversibly covalent protein ligands.

Linear Discriminant Analysis for the <i>in Silico</i> Discovery of Mechanism-Based Reversible Covalent Inhibitors of a Serine Protease: Application of Hydration Thermodynamics Analysis and Semi-empirical Molecular Orbital Calculation

We recently reported that the Gibbs free energy of hydrolytic water molecules (ΔGwat) in acyl-trypsin intermediates calculated by hydration thermodynamics analysis could be a useful metric for estimating the catalytic rate constants (kcat) of mechanism-based reversible covalent inhibitors. For thorough evaluation, the proposed method was tested with an increased number of covalent ligands that have no corresponding crystal structures. After modeling acyl-trypsin intermediate structures using flexible molecular superposition, ΔGwat values were calculated according to the proposed method. The orbital energies of antibonding π* molecular orbitals (MOs) of carbonyl C=O in covalently modified catalytic serine (Eorb) were also calculated by semi-empirical MO calculations. Then, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was performed to build a model that can discriminate covalent inhibitor candidates from substrate-like ligands using ΔGwat and Eorb. The model was built using a training set (10 compounds) and then validated by a test set (4 compounds). As a result, the training set and test set ligands were perfectly discriminated by the model. Hydrolysis was slower when (1) the hydrolytic water molecule has lower ΔGwat; (2) the covalent ligand presents higher Eorb (higher reaction barrier). Results also showed that the entropic term of hydrolytic water molecule (-TΔSwat) could be used for estimating kcat and for covalent inhibitor optimization; when the rotational freedom of the hydrolytic water molecule is limited, the chance for favorable interaction with the electrophilic acyl group would also be limited. The method proposed in this study would be useful for screening and optimizing the mechanism-based reversible covalent inhibitors.

"Inverse Drug Discovery" Strategy To Identify Proteins That Are Targeted by Latent Electrophiles As Exemplified by Aryl Fluorosulfates.

Drug candidates are generally discovered using biochemical screens employing an isolated target protein or by utilizing cell-based phenotypic assays. Both noncovalent and covalent hits emerge from such endeavors. Herein, we exemplify an "Inverse Drug Discovery" strategy in which organic compounds of intermediate complexity harboring weak, but activatable, electrophiles are matched with the protein(s) they react with in cells or cell lysate. An alkyne substructure in each candidate small molecule enables affinity chromatography-mass spectrometry, which produces a list of proteins that each distinct compound reacts with. A notable feature of this approach is that it is agnostic with respect to the cellular proteins targeted. To illustrate this strategy, we employed aryl fluorosulfates, an underexplored class of sulfur(VI) halides, that are generally unreactive unless activated by protein binding. Reversible aryl fluorosulfate binding, correct juxtaposition of protein side chain functional groups, and transition-state stabilization of the S(VI) exchange reaction all seem to be critical for conjugate formation. The aryl fluorosulfates studied thus far exhibit chemoselective reactivity toward Lys and, particularly, Tyr side chains, and can be used to target nonenzymes (e.g., a hormone carrier or a small-molecule carrier protein) as well as enzymes. The "Inverse Drug Discovery" strategy should be particularly attractive as a means to explore latent electrophiles not typically used in medicinal chemistry efforts, until one reacts with a protein target of exceptional interest. Structure-activity data can then be used to enhance the selectivity of conjugate formation or the covalent probe can be used as a competitor to develop noncovalent drug candidates. Here we use the "Inverse Drug Discovery" platform to identify and validate covalent ligands for 11 different human proteins. In the case of one of these proteins, we have identified and validated a small-molecule probe for the first time.

Bond with Me If You Can! Natural Product, Covalent Ligand, and Reactivity-Based Probe Compete for Cysteine in PP2A Complex

In this issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Grossman etal. (2017) disclose a chemoproteomics-enabled strategy to identify the cysteine-reactive target(s) of the anti-cancer natural product withaferin A and then screen a cysteine-reactive fragment library to discover a covalent ligand for the same target.

On-site reaction for PPARγ modification using a specific bifunctional ligand

Site-specific labeling is an important methodology to elucidate the biological function of a target protein. Here, we report a strategy for site-specific chemical labeling, termed the “on-site reaction”. We designed and readily synthesized a bifunctional ligand possessing two reaction sites, an enone and an azide moiety. This strategy involves an on-site conjugate addition reaction with protein followed by a Hüisgen cycloaddition reaction. We demonstrate this strategy by using fluorescein as a probe and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ (PPARγ) as a target protein. The reactions were evaluated by ESI-mass analysis and the binding site and modes of binding were revealed by X-ray crystallization analysis. The proposed methodology can easily convert a covalent ligand into chemical tool for protein functional analysis and the identification of drug targets.

Spotting ligandable lysines

A method to detect highly reactive lysine residues in the proteome helps spot those ripe for targeting by covalent ligands.

Covalent Lipid Pocket Ligands Targeting p38α MAPK Mutants.

A chemical genetic approach is presented to covalently target a unique lipid binding pocket in the protein kinase p38α, whose function is not yet known. Based on a series of cocrystal structures, a library of 2-arylquinazolines that were decorated with electrophiles were designed and synthesized to covalently target tailored p38α mutants containing artificially introduced cysteine residues. Matching protein-ligand pairs were identified by MS analysis and further validated by MS/MS studies and protein crystallography. The covalent ligands that emerged from this approach showed excellent selectivity towards a single p38α mutant and will be applicable as suitable probes in future studies of biological systems to dissect the function of the lipid pocket by means of pharmacological perturbations.

Covalent Ligand Discovery against Druggable Hotspots Targeted by Anti-cancer Natural Products

Many natural products that show therapeutic activities are often difficult to synthesize or isolate and have unknown targets, hindering their development as drugs. Identifying druggable hotspots targeted by covalently acting anti-cancer natural products can enable pharmacological interrogation of these sites with more synthetically tractable compounds. Here, we used chemoproteomic platforms to discover that the anti-cancer natural product withaferin A targets C377 on the regulatory subunit PPP2R1A of the tumor-suppressor protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) complex leading to activation of PP2A activity, inactivation of AKT, and impaired breast cancer cell proliferation. We developed a more synthetically tractable cysteine-reactive covalent ligand, JNS 1-40, that selectively targets C377 of PPP2R1A to impair breast cancer signaling, proliferation, and invivo tumor growth. Our study highlights the utility of using chemoproteomics to map druggable hotspots targeted by complex natural products and subsequently interrogating these sites with more synthetically tractable covalent ligands for cancer therapy.

Chemoproteomics-Enabled Covalent Ligand Screening Reveals a Thioredoxin-Caspase 3 Interaction Disruptor That Impairs Breast Cancer Pathogenicity.

Covalent ligand discovery is a promising strategy to develop small-molecule effectors against therapeutic targets. Recent studies have shown that dichlorotriazines are promising reactive scaffolds that preferentially react with lysines. Here, we have synthesized a series of dichlorotriazine-based covalent ligands and have screened this library to reveal small molecules that impair triple-negative breast cancer cell survival. Upon identifying a lead hit from this screen KEA1-97, we used activity-based protein profiling (ABPP)-based chemoproteomic platforms to identify that this compound targets lysine 72 of thioredoxin-a site previously shown to be important in protein interactions with caspase 3 to inhibit caspase 3 activity and suppress apoptosis. We show that KEA1-97 disrupts the interaction of thioredoxin with caspase 3, activates caspases, and induces apoptosis without affecting thioredoxin activity. Moreover, KEA1-97 impairs in vivo breast tumor xenograft growth. Our study showcases how the screening of covalent ligands can be coupled with ABPP platforms to identify unique anticancer lead and target pairs.

Global profiling of lysine reactivity and ligandability in the human proteome.

Nucleophilic amino acids make important contributions to protein function, including performing key roles in catalysis and serving as sites for post-translational modification. Electrophilic groups that target amino-acid nucleophiles have been used to create covalent ligands and drugs, but have, so far, been mainly limited to cysteine and serine. Here, we report a chemical proteomic platform for the global and quantitative analysis of lysine residues in native biological systems. We have quantified, in total, more than 9,000 lysines in human cell proteomes and have identified several hundred residues with heightened reactivity that are enriched at protein functional sites and can frequently be targeted by electrophilic small molecules. We have also discovered lysine-reactive fragment electrophiles that inhibit enzymes by active site and allosteric mechanisms, as well as disrupt protein-protein interactions in transcriptional regulatory complexes, emphasizing the broad potential and diverse functional consequences of liganding lysine residues throughout the human proteome.

Chemical Tools for Studying Lipid-Binding Class A G Protein-Coupled Receptors.

Cannabinoid, free fatty acid, lysophosphatidic acid, sphingosine 1-phosphate, prostanoid, leukotriene, bile acid, and platelet-activating factor receptor families are class A G protein-coupled receptors with endogenous lipid ligands. Pharmacological tools are crucial for studying these receptors and addressing the many unanswered questions surrounding expression of these receptors in normal and diseased tissues. An inherent challenge for developing tools for these lipid receptors is balancing the often lipophilic requirements of the receptor-binding pharmacophore with favorable physicochemical properties to optimize highly specific binding. In this study, we review the radioligands, fluorescent ligands, covalent ligands, and antibodies that have been used to study these lipid-binding receptors. For each tool type, the characteristics and design rationale along with in vitro and in vivo applications are detailed.

Covalent Protein Labeling and Improved Single-Molecule Optical Properties of Aqueous CdSe/CdS Quantum Dots.

Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have proven to be superior probes for single-molecule imaging compared to organic or genetically encoded fluorophores, but they are limited by difficulties in protein targeting, their larger size, and on-off blinking. Here, we report compact aqueous CdSe/CdS QDs with significantly improved bioconjugation efficiency and superior single-molecule optical properties. We have synthesized covalent protein labeling ligands (i.e., SNAP tags) that are optimized for nanoparticle use, and QDs functionalized with these ligands label SNAP-tagged proteins ∼10-fold more efficiently than existing SNAP ligands. Single-molecule analysis of these QDs shows 99% of time spent in the fluorescent on-state, ∼4-fold higher quantum efficiency than standard CdSe/ZnS QDs, and 350 million photons detected before photobleaching. Bright signals of these QDs enable us to track the stepping movement of a kinesin motor in vitro, and the improved labeling efficiency enables tracking of single kinesins in live cells.

Statistical Analysis and Prediction of Covalent Ligand Targeted Cysteine Residues.

Targeted covalent compounds or drugs have good potency as they can bind to a specific target for a long time with low doses. Most currently known covalent ligands were discovered by chance or by modifying existing noncovalent compounds to make them covalently attached to a nearby reactive residue. Computational methods for novel covalent ligand binding prediction are highly demanded. We performed statistical analysis on protein complexes with covalent ligands attached to cysteine residues. We found that covalent modified cysteine residues have unique features compared to those not attached to covalent ligands, including lower pKa, higher exposure, and higher ligand binding affinity. SVM models were built to predict cysteine residues suitable for covalent ligand design with prediction accuracy of 0.73. Given a protein structure, our method can be used to automatically detect druggable cysteine residues for covalent ligand design, which is especially useful for identifying novel binding sites for covalent allosteric ligand design.

NHS-Esters As Versatile Reactivity-Based Probes for Mapping Proteome-Wide Ligandable Hotspots.

Most of the proteome is considered undruggable, oftentimes hindering translational efforts for drug discovery. Identifying previously unknown druggable hotspots in proteins would enable strategies for pharmacologically interrogating these sites with small molecules. Activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) has arisen as a powerful chemoproteomic strategy that uses reactivity-based chemical probes to map reactive, functional, and ligandable hotspots in complex proteomes, which has enabled inhibitor discovery against various therapeutic protein targets. Here, we report an alkyne-functionalized N-hydroxysuccinimide-ester (NHS-ester) as a versatile reactivity-based probe for mapping the reactivity of a wide range of nucleophilic ligandable hotspots, including lysines, serines, threonines, and tyrosines, encompassing active sites, allosteric sites, post-translational modification sites, protein interaction sites, and previously uncharacterized potential binding sites. Surprisingly, we also show that fragment-based NHS-ester ligands can be made to confer selectivity for specific lysine hotspots on specific targets including Dpyd, Aldh2, and Gstt1. We thus put forth NHS-esters as promising reactivity-based probes and chemical scaffolds for covalent ligand discovery.

Diverse Redoxome Reactivity Profiles of Carbon Nucleophiles

Targeted covalent inhibitors have emerged as a powerful approach in the drug discovery pipeline. Key to this process is the identification of signaling pathways (or receptors) specific to (or overexpressed in) disease cells. In this context, fragment-based ligand discovery (FBLD) has significantly expanded our view of the ligandable proteome and affords tool compounds for biological inquiry. To date, such covalent ligand discovery has almost exclusively employed cysteine-reactive small-molecule fragments. However, functional cysteine residues in proteins are often redox-sensitive and can undergo oxidation in cells. Such reactions are particularly relevant in diseases, like cancer, which are linked to excessive production of reactive oxygen species. Once oxidized, the sulfur atom of cysteine is much less reactive toward electrophilic groups used in the traditional FBLD paradigm. To address this limitation, we recently developed a novel library of diverse carbon-based nucleophile fragments that react selectively with cysteine sulfenic acid formed in proteins via oxidation or hydrolysis reactions. Here, we report analysis of sulfenic acid-reactive C-nucleophile fragments screened against a colon cancer cell proteome. Covalent ligands were identified for >1280 S-sulfenylated cysteines present in "druggable" proteins and orphan targets, revealing disparate reactivity profiles and target preferences. Among the unique ligand-protein interactions identified was that of a pyrrolidinedione nucleophile that reacted preferentially with protein tyrosine phosphatases. Fragment-based covalent ligand discovery with C-nucleophiles affords an expansive snapshot of the ligandable "redoxome" with significant implications for covalent inhibitor pharmacology and also affords new chemical tools to investigate redox-regulation of protein function.

Ni-foam-supported and amine-functionalized TiO2 photocathode improved photoelectrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methanol

We report new insights into the photoelectrochemical reduction of CO2 in a photoelectrochemical system, which is assembled from a nickel foam covered with TiO2 modified by covalent ligands as photocathode and BiVO4 as photoanode. These photoelectrocatalytic cells generate mainly methanol as a product in the liquid phase. Our results show that imine-functionalized TiO2/Ni has the highest activity. The formation rate of methanol in this excellent cell is up to 153μM/h·cm2, which is about 15 times higher than that of the TiO2/Ni electrode. If the Faradaic efficiency is considered as 100%, the light quantum efficiency of this cell reaches 1.2%, that is two times better than that of plants. Isotopic labeling experiments with 13CO2 confirm that the detected products are produced exclusively by the reduction of CO2 and water splitting.

Chemoproteomic Screening of Covalent Ligands Reveals UBA5 As a Novel Pancreatic Cancer Target.

Chemical genetic screening of small-molecule libraries has been a promising strategy for discovering unique and novel therapeutic compounds. However, identifying the targets of lead molecules that arise from these screens has remained a major bottleneck in understanding the mechanism of action of these compounds. Here, we have coupled the screening of a cysteine-reactive fragment-based covalent ligand library with an isotopic tandem orthogonal proteolysis-enabled activity-based protein profiling (isoTOP-ABPP) chemoproteomic platform to rapidly couple the discovery of lead small molecules that impair pancreatic cancer pathogenicity with the identification of druggable hotspots for potential cancer therapy. Through this coupled approach, we have discovered a covalent ligand DKM 2-93 that impairs pancreatic cancer cell survival and in vivo tumor growth through covalently modifying the catalytic cysteine of the ubiquitin-like modifier activating enzyme 5 (UBA5), thereby inhibiting its activity as a protein that activates the ubiquitin-like protein UFM1 to UFMylate proteins. We show that UBA5 is a novel pancreatic cancer therapeutic target and show DKM 2-93 as a relatively selective lead inhibitor of UBA5. Our results underscore the utility of coupling the screening of covalent ligand libraries with isoTOP-ABPP platforms for mining the proteome for druggable hotspots for cancer therapy.

Click Chemistry Reagent for Identification of Sites of Covalent Ligand Incorporation in Integral Membrane Proteins.

Identifying sites of protein-ligand interaction is important for structure-based drug discovery and understanding protein structure-function relationships. Mass spectrometry (MS) has emerged as a useful tool for identifying residues covalently modified by ligands. Current methods use database searches that are dependent on acquiring interpretable fragmentation spectra (MS2) of peptide-ligand adducts. This is problematic for identifying sites of hydrophobic ligand incorporation in integral membrane proteins (IMPs), where poor aqueous solubility and ionization of peptide-ligand adducts and collision-induced adduct loss hinder the acquisition of quality MS2 spectra. To address these issues, we developed a fast ligand identification (FLI) tag that can be attached to any alkyne-containing ligand via Cu(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition. The FLI tag adds charge to increase solubility and ionization, and utilizes stable isotope labeling for MS1 level identification of hydrophobic peptide-ligand adducts. The FLI tag was coupled to an alkyne-containing neurosteroid photolabeling reagent and used to identify peptide-steroid adducts in MS1 spectra via the stable heavy isotope pair. Peptide-steroid adducts were not identified in MS2-based database searches because collision-induced adduct loss was the dominant feature of collision-induced dissociation (CID) fragmentation, but targeted analysis of MS1 pairs using electron transfer dissociation (ETD) markedly reduced adduct loss. Using the FLI tag and ETD, we identified Glu73 as the site of photoincorporation of our neurosteroid ligand in the IMP, mouse voltage-dependent anion channel-1 (mVDAC1), and top-down MS confirmed a single site of photolabeling.