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Boldini D, Friedrich L, Kuhn D, Sieber SA. Machine Learning Assisted Hit Prioritization for High Throughput Screening in Drug Discovery. ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE 2024; 10:823-832. [PMID: 38680560 PMCID: PMC11046457 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.3c01517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 03/01/2024] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Efficient prioritization of bioactive compounds from high throughput screening campaigns is a fundamental challenge for accelerating drug development efforts. In this study, we present the first data-driven approach to simultaneously detect assay interferents and prioritize true bioactive compounds. By analyzing the learning dynamics during training of a gradient boosting model on noisy high throughput screening data using a novel formulation of sample influence, we are able to distinguish between compounds exhibiting the desired biological response and those producing assay artifacts. Therefore, our method enables false positive and true positive detection without relying on prior screens or assay interference mechanisms, making it applicable to any high throughput screening campaign. We demonstrate that our approach consistently excludes assay interferents with different mechanisms and prioritizes biologically relevant compounds more efficiently than all tested baselines, including a retrospective case study simulating its use in a real drug discovery campaign. Finally, our tool is extremely computationally efficient, requiring less than 30 s per assay on low-resource hardware. As such, our findings show that our method is an ideal addition to existing false positive detection tools and can be used to guide further pharmacological optimization after high throughput screening campaigns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davide Boldini
- TUM
School of Natural Sciences, Department of Bioscience, Center for Functional
Protein Assemblies (CPA), Technical University
of Munich, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
| | - Lukas Friedrich
- The
Healthcare business of Merck KGaA, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Daniel Kuhn
- The
Healthcare business of Merck KGaA, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Stephan A. Sieber
- TUM
School of Natural Sciences, Department of Bioscience, Center for Functional
Protein Assemblies (CPA), Technical University
of Munich, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
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Bertron JL, Ennis EA, Tarr CJ, Wright J, Dickerson JW, Locuson CW, Blobaum AL, Rook JM, Blakely RD, Lindsley CW. Optimization of the choline transporter (CHT) inhibitor ML352: Development of VU6001221, an improved in vivo tool compound. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2016; 26:4637-4640. [PMID: 27575469 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2016.08.062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Revised: 08/17/2016] [Accepted: 08/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
This Letter describes the further lead optimization of the CHT inhibitor probe, ML352 (VU0476201), and the development of VU6001221, an improved in vivo tool. A multi-dimensional optimization effort encountered steep SAR, and ultimately, subtle tuning of the electronics of the central phenyl core provided VU6001221, a CHT inhibitor with comparable potency for choline uptake inhibition as ML352, yet improved PK and CNS penetration. Moreover, VU6001221 enabled evaluation, for the first time, of a CHT inhibitor in a standard preclinical rodent cognition model, novel object recognition (NOR). We observed VU6001221 to elicit a dose-responsive increase in NOR, raising the possibility of agonism of synaptic α7 nicotinic ACh receptors by elevated extracellular choline, that if confirmed would represent a novel molecular strategy to enhance cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeanette L Bertron
- Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Ennis
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Christopher J Tarr
- Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Jane Wright
- Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Jonathan W Dickerson
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Charles W Locuson
- Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Anna L Blobaum
- Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Jerri M Rook
- Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Randy D Blakely
- FAU Brain Institute, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA.
| | - Craig W Lindsley
- Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
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Ennis EA, Blakely RD. Choline on the Move: Perspectives on the Molecular Physiology and Pharmacology of the Presynaptic Choline Transporter. ADVANCES IN PHARMACOLOGY (SAN DIEGO, CALIF.) 2016; 76:175-213. [PMID: 27288078 DOI: 10.1016/bs.apha.2016.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Genetic, biochemical, physiological, and pharmacological approaches have advanced our understanding of cholinergic biology for over 100 years. High-affinity choline uptake (HACU) was one of the last features of cholinergic signaling to be defined at a molecular level, achieved through the cloning of the choline transporter (CHT, SLC5A7). In retrospect, the molecular era of CHT studies initiated with the identification of hemicholinium-3 (HC-3), a potent, competitive CHT antagonist, though it would take another 30 years before HC-3, in radiolabeled form, was used by Joseph Coyle's laboratory to identify and monitor the dynamics of CHT proteins. Though HC-3 studies provided important insights into CHT distribution and regulation, another 15 years would pass before the structure of CHT genes and proteins were identified, a full decade after the cloning of most other neurotransmitter-associated transporters. The availability of CHT gene and protein probes propelled the development of cell and animal models as well as efforts to gain insights into how human CHT gene variation affects the risk for brain and neuromuscular disorders. Most recently, our group has pursued a broadening of CHT pharmacology, elucidating novel chemical structures that may serve to advance cholinergic diagnostics and medication development. Here we provide a short review of the transformation that has occurred in HACU research and how such advances may promote the development of novel therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- E A Ennis
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - R D Blakely
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, United States.
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