Immobilized lipodisks as model membranes in high-throughput HPLC-MS analysis

Fragment screening for drug leads by weak affinity chromatography (WAC-MS)

Fragment-based drug discovery is an important tool for design of small molecule hit-to-lead compounds against various biological targets. Several approved drugs have been derived from an initial fragment screen and many such candidates are in various stages of clinical trials. Finding fragment hits, that are suitable for optimisation by medicinal chemists, is still a challenge as the binding between the small fragment and its target is weak in the range of mM to µM of K_d and irrelevant non-specific interactions are abundant in this area of transient interactions. Fortunately, there are methods that can study weak interactions quite efficiently of which NMR, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and X-ray crystallography are the most prominent. Now, a new technology based on zonal affinity chromatography, weak affinity chromatography (WAC), has been introduced which has remedied many of the problems with other technologies. By combining WAC with mass spectrometry (WAC-MS), it is a powerful tool to identify binders quantitatively in terms of affinity and kinetics either from fragment libraries or from complex mixtures of biological extracts. As WAC-MS can be multiplexed by analysing mixtures of fragments (20-100 fragments) in one sample, this approach yields high throughput, where a whole library of e.g. >2000 fragments can be analysed quantitatively within a day. WAC-MS is easy to perform, where the robustness and quality of HPLC is fully utilized. This review will highlight the rationale behind the application of WAC-MS for fragment screening in drug discovery.

EGF-targeting lipodisks for specific delivery of poorly water-soluble anticancer agents to tumour cells

We report on the construction of tumour targeting PEG-stabilized lipodisks capable of receptor mediated intracellular delivery of curcumin.

Lipodisks integrated with weak affinity chromatography enable fragment screening of integral membrane proteins

Membrane proteins constitute the largest class of drug targets but they present many challenges in drug discovery.