1
|
Cerutti JP, Diniz LA, Santos VC, Vilchez Larrea SC, Alonso GD, Ferreira RS, Dehaen W, Quevedo MA. Structure-Aided Computational Design of Triazole-Based Targeted Covalent Inhibitors of Cruzipain. Molecules 2024; 29:4224. [PMID: 39275072 PMCID: PMC11396839 DOI: 10.3390/molecules29174224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2024] [Revised: 08/29/2024] [Accepted: 09/03/2024] [Indexed: 09/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Cruzipain (CZP), the major cysteine protease present in T. cruzi, the ethiological agent of Chagas disease, has attracted particular attention as a therapeutic target for the development of targeted covalent inhibitors (TCI). The vast chemical space associated with the enormous molecular diversity feasible to explore by means of modern synthetic approaches allows the design of CZP inhibitors capable of exhibiting not only an efficient enzyme inhibition but also an adequate translation to anti-T. cruzi activity. In this work, a computer-aided design strategy was developed to combinatorially construct and screen large libraries of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole analogues, further identifying a selected set of candidates for advancement towards synthetic and biological activity evaluation stages. In this way, a virtual molecular library comprising more than 75 thousand diverse and synthetically feasible analogues was studied by means of molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations in the search of potential TCI of CZP, guiding the synthetic efforts towards a subset of 48 candidates. These were synthesized by applying a Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) centered synthetic scheme, resulting in moderate to good yields and leading to the identification of 12 hits selectively inhibiting CZP activity with IC50 in the low micromolar range. Furthermore, four triazole derivatives showed good anti-T. cruzi inhibition when studied at 50 μM; and Ald-6 excelled for its high antitrypanocidal activity and low cytotoxicity, exhibiting complete in vitro biological activity translation from CZP to T. cruzi. Overall, not only Ald-6 merits further advancement to preclinical in vivo studies, but these findings also shed light on a valuable chemical space where molecular diversity might be explored in the search for efficient triazole-based antichagasic agents.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Juan Pablo Cerutti
- Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Farmacéutica (UNITEFA-CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (FCQ-UNC), Haya de la Torre y Medina Allende, Córdoba 5000, Argentina
- Sustainable Chemistry for Metals and Molecules, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lucas Abreu Diniz
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Viviane Corrêa Santos
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Salomé Catalina Vilchez Larrea
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI-CONICET), Vuelta de Obligado 2490, Ciudad de Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
| | - Guillermo Daniel Alonso
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI-CONICET), Vuelta de Obligado 2490, Ciudad de Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
| | - Rafaela Salgado Ferreira
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Wim Dehaen
- Sustainable Chemistry for Metals and Molecules, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Mario Alfredo Quevedo
- Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Farmacéutica (UNITEFA-CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (FCQ-UNC), Haya de la Torre y Medina Allende, Córdoba 5000, Argentina
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Irannejad H, Valipour M. Cheminformatics analysis of indoleamine and tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase inhibitors: A descriptor and fingerprint based machine learning approach to disclose selectivity measures. Comput Biol Med 2024; 180:108954. [PMID: 39094327 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2024] [Revised: 07/06/2024] [Accepted: 07/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/04/2024]
Abstract
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) are attractive drug targets for cancer immunotherapy. After disappointing results of the epacadostat as a selective IDO inhibitor in phase III clinical trials, there is much interest in the development of the TDO selective inhibitors. In the current study, several data analysis methods and machine learning approaches including logistic regression, Random Forest, XGBoost and Support Vector Machines were used to model a data set of compounds retrieved from ChEMBL. Models based on the Morgan fingerprints revealed notable fragments for the selective inhibition of the IDO, TDO or both. Multiple fragment docking was performed to find the best set of bound fragments and their orientation in the space for efficient linking. Linking the fragments and optimization of the final molecules were accomplished by means of an artificial intelligence generative framework. Finally, selectivity of the optimized molecules was assessed and the top 4 lead molecules were filtered through PAINS, Brenk and NIH filters. Results indicated that phenyloxalamide, fluoroquinoline, and 3-bromo-4-fluroaniline confer selectivity towards the IDO inhibition. Correspondingly, 1-benzyl-1H-naphtho[2,3-d][1,2,3]triazole-4,9-dione was found to be an integral fragment for the selective inhibition of the TDO by constituting a coordination bond with the Fe atom of heme. In addition, furo[2,3-c]pyridine-2,3-diamine was found as a common fragment for inhibition of the both targets and can be used in the design of the dual target inhibitors of the IDO and TDO. The new fragments introduced here can be a useful building blocks for incorporation into the selective TDO or dual IDO/TDO inhibitors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hamid Irannejad
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
| | - Mehdi Valipour
- Razi Drug Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Golla K, Yasgar A, Manjuprasanna VN, Naik MU, Baljinnyam B, Zakharov AV, Jain S, Rai G, Jadhav A, Simeonov A, Naik UP. Small-Molecule Disruptors of the Interaction between Calcium- and Integrin-Binding Protein 1 and Integrin α IIbβ 3 as Novel Antiplatelet Agents. ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci 2024; 7:1971-1982. [PMID: 39022362 PMCID: PMC11249646 DOI: 10.1021/acsptsci.4c00026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2024] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Thrombosis, a key factor in most cardiovascular diseases, is a major contributor to human mortality. Existing antithrombotic agents carry a risk of bleeding. Consequently, there is a keen interest in discovering innovative antithrombotic agents that can prevent thrombosis without negatively impacting hemostasis. Platelets play crucial roles in both hemostasis and thrombosis. We have previously characterized calcium- and integrin-binding protein 1 (CIB1) as a key regulatory molecule that regulates platelet function. CIB1 interacts with several platelet proteins including integrin αIIbβ3, the major glycoprotein receptor for fibrinogen on platelets. Given that CIB1 regulates platelet function through its interaction with αIIbβ3, we developed a fluorescence polarization (FP) assay to screen for potential inhibitors. The assay was miniaturized to 1536-well and screened in quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) format against a diverse compound library of 14,782 compounds. After validation and selectivity testing using the FP assay, we identified 19 candidate inhibitors and validated them using an in-gel binding assay that monitors the interaction of CIB1 with αIIb cytoplasmic tail peptide, followed by testing of top hits by intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence (ITF) and microscale thermophoresis (MST) to ascertain their interaction with CIB1. Two of the validated hits shared similar chemical structures, suggesting a common mechanism of action. Docking studies further revealed promising interactions within the hydrophobic binding pocket of the target protein, particularly forming key hydrogen bonds with Ser180. The compounds exhibited a potent antiplatelet activity based on their inhibition of thrombin-induced human platelet aggregation, thus indicating that disruptors of the CIB1- αIIbβ3 interaction could carry a translational potential as antithrombotic agents.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kalyan Golla
- Cardeza
Center for Hemostasis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Cardeza Foundation
for Hematologic Research, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, United States
| | - Adam Yasgar
- National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Voddarahally N. Manjuprasanna
- Cardeza
Center for Hemostasis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Cardeza Foundation
for Hematologic Research, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, United States
| | - Meghna U. Naik
- Cardeza
Center for Hemostasis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Cardeza Foundation
for Hematologic Research, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, United States
| | - Bolormaa Baljinnyam
- National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Alexey V. Zakharov
- National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Sankalp Jain
- National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Ganesha Rai
- National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Ajit Jadhav
- National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Anton Simeonov
- National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Ulhas P. Naik
- Cardeza
Center for Hemostasis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Cardeza Foundation
for Hematologic Research, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, United States
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Abou Hajal A, Bryce RA, Amor BB, Atatreh N, Ghattas MA. Boosting the Accuracy and Chemical Space Coverage of the Detection of Small Colloidal Aggregating Molecules Using the BAD Molecule Filter. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:4991-5005. [PMID: 38920403 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/27/2024]
Abstract
The ability to conduct effective high throughput screening (HTS) campaigns in drug discovery is often hampered by the detection of false positives in these assays due to small colloidally aggregating molecules (SCAMs). SCAMs can produce artifactual hits in HTS by nonspecific inhibition of the protein target. In this work, we present a new computational prediction tool for detecting SCAMs based on their 2D chemical structure. The tool, called the boosted aggregation detection (BAD) molecule filter, employs decision tree ensemble methods, namely, the CatBoost classifier and the light gradient-boosting machine, to significantly improve the detection of SCAMs. In developing the filter, we explore models trained on individual data sets, a consensus approach using these models, and, third, a merged data set approach, each tailored for specific drug discovery needs. The individual data set method emerged as most effective, achieving 93% sensitivity and 90% specificity, outperforming existing state-of-the-art models by 20 and 5%, respectively. The consensus models offer broader chemical space coverage, exceeding 90% for all testing sets. This feature is an important aspect particularly for early stage medicinal chemistry projects, and provides information on applicability domain. Meanwhile, the merged data set models demonstrated robust performance, with a notable sensitivity of 79% in the comprehensive 10-fold cross-validation test set. A SHAP analysis of model features indicates the importance of hydrophobicity and molecular complexity as primary factors influencing the aggregation propensity. The BAD molecule filter is readily accessible for the public usage on https://molmodlab-aau.com/Tools.html. This filter provides a new, more robust tool for aggregate prediction in the early stages of drug discovery to optimize hit rates and reduce associated testing and validation overheads.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abdallah Abou Hajal
- College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi 112612, United Arab Emirates
- AAU Health and Biomedical Research Center, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi 112612, United Arab Emirates
| | - Richard A Bryce
- Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K
| | - Boulbaba Ben Amor
- Core42, Inception/G42, Abu Dhabi 2282, United Arab Emirates
- IMT Nord Europe, Villeneuve D'Ascq 59650 France
| | - Noor Atatreh
- College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi 112612, United Arab Emirates
- AAU Health and Biomedical Research Center, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi 112612, United Arab Emirates
| | - Mohammad A Ghattas
- College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi 112612, United Arab Emirates
- AAU Health and Biomedical Research Center, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi 112612, United Arab Emirates
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Glenn IS, Hall LN, Khalid MM, Ott M, Shoichet BK. Colloidal Aggregation Confounds Cell-Based Covid-19 Antiviral Screens. J Med Chem 2024; 67:10263-10274. [PMID: 38864383 PMCID: PMC11236530 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2024]
Abstract
Colloidal aggregation is one of the largest contributors to false positives in early drug discovery. Here, we consider aggregation's role in cell-based infectivity assays in Covid-19 drug repurposing. We investigated the potential aggregation of 41 drug candidates reported as SARs-CoV-2 entry inhibitors. Of these, 17 formed colloidal particles by dynamic light scattering and exhibited detergent-dependent enzyme inhibition. To evaluate the impact of aggregation on antiviral efficacy in cells, we presaturated the colloidal drug suspensions with BSA or spun them down by centrifugation and measured the effects on spike pseudovirus infectivity. Antiviral potencies diminished by at least 10-fold following both BSA and centrifugation treatments, supporting a colloid-based mechanism. Aggregates induced puncta of the labeled spike protein in fluorescence microscopy, consistent with sequestration of the protein on the colloidal particles. These observations suggest that colloidal aggregation is common among cell-based antiviral drug repurposing and offers rapid counter-screens to detect and eliminate these artifacts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Isabella S Glenn
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California 94143, United States
| | - Lauren N Hall
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California 94143, United States
| | - Mir M Khalid
- Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
| | - Melanie Ott
- Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
| | - Brian K Shoichet
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California 94143, United States
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Bedart C, Shimokura G, West FG, Wood TE, Batey RA, Irwin JJ, Schapira M. The Pan-Canadian Chemical Library: A Mechanism to Open Academic Chemistry to High-Throughput Virtual Screening. Sci Data 2024; 11:597. [PMID: 38844472 PMCID: PMC11156877 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03443-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Computationally screening chemical libraries to discover molecules with desired properties is a common technique used in early-stage drug discovery. Recent progress in the field now enables the efficient exploration of billions of molecules within days or hours, but this exploration remains confined within the boundaries of the accessible chemistry space. While the number of commercially available compounds grows rapidly, it remains a limited subset of all druglike small molecules that could be synthesized. Here, we present a workflow where chemical reactions typically developed in academia and unconventional in drug discovery are exploited to dramatically expand the chemistry space accessible to virtual screening. We use this process to generate a first version of the Pan-Canadian Chemical Library, a collection of nearly 150 billion diverse compounds that does not overlap with other ultra-large libraries such as Enamine REAL or SAVI and could be a resource of choice for protein targets where other libraries have failed to deliver bioactive molecules.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Corentin Bedart
- Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1L7, Canada
- Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, U1286 - INFINITE - Institute for Translational Research in Inflammation, F-59000, Lille, France
| | - Grace Shimokura
- Davenport Research Laboratories, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H6, Canada
| | - Frederick G West
- Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2G2, Canada
| | - Tabitha E Wood
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9, Canada
| | - Robert A Batey
- Davenport Research Laboratories, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H6, Canada
- Acceleration Consortium, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H6, Canada
| | - John J Irwin
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA.
| | - Matthieu Schapira
- Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1L7, Canada.
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A1, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Wallach I, Bernard D, Nguyen K, Ho G, Morrison A, Stecula A, Rosnik A, O’Sullivan AM, Davtyan A, Samudio B, Thomas B, Worley B, Butler B, Laggner C, Thayer D, Moharreri E, Friedland G, Truong H, van den Bedem H, Ng HL, Stafford K, Sarangapani K, Giesler K, Ngo L, Mysinger M, Ahmed M, Anthis NJ, Henriksen N, Gniewek P, Eckert S, de Oliveira S, Suterwala S, PrasadPrasad SVK, Shek S, Contreras S, Hare S, Palazzo T, O’Brien TE, Van Grack T, Williams T, Chern TR, Kenyon V, Lee AH, Cann AB, Bergman B, Anderson BM, Cox BD, Warrington JM, Sorenson JM, Goldenberg JM, Young MA, DeHaan N, Pemberton RP, Schroedl S, Abramyan TM, Gupta T, Mysore V, Presser AG, Ferrando AA, Andricopulo AD, Ghosh A, Ayachi AG, Mushtaq A, Shaqra AM, Toh AKL, Smrcka AV, Ciccia A, de Oliveira AS, Sverzhinsky A, de Sousa AM, Agoulnik AI, Kushnir A, Freiberg AN, Statsyuk AV, Gingras AR, Degterev A, Tomilov A, Vrielink A, Garaeva AA, Bryant-Friedrich A, Caflisch A, Patel AK, Rangarajan AV, Matheeussen A, Battistoni A, Caporali A, Chini A, Ilari A, Mattevi A, Foote AT, Trabocchi A, Stahl A, Herr AB, Berti A, Freywald A, Reidenbach AG, Lam A, Cuddihy AR, White A, Taglialatela A, Ojha AK, Cathcart AM, Motyl AAL, Borowska A, D’Antuono A, Hirsch AKH, Porcelli AM, Minakova A, Montanaro A, Müller A, Fiorillo A, Virtanen A, O’Donoghue AJ, Del Rio Flores A, Garmendia AE, Pineda-Lucena A, Panganiban AT, Samantha A, Chatterjee AK, Haas AL, Paparella AS, John ALS, Prince A, ElSheikh A, Apfel AM, Colomba A, O’Dea A, Diallo BN, Ribeiro BMRM, Bailey-Elkin BA, Edelman BL, Liou B, Perry B, Chua BSK, Kováts B, Englinger B, Balakrishnan B, Gong B, Agianian B, Pressly B, Salas BPM, Duggan BM, Geisbrecht BV, Dymock BW, Morten BC, Hammock BD, Mota BEF, Dickinson BC, Fraser C, Lempicki C, Novina CD, Torner C, Ballatore C, Bon C, Chapman CJ, Partch CL, Chaton CT, Huang C, Yang CY, Kahler CM, Karan C, Keller C, Dieck CL, Huimei C, Liu C, Peltier C, Mantri CK, Kemet CM, Müller CE, Weber C, Zeina CM, Muli CS, Morisseau C, Alkan C, Reglero C, Loy CA, Wilson CM, Myhr C, Arrigoni C, Paulino C, Santiago C, Luo D, Tumes DJ, Keedy DA, Lawrence DA, Chen D, Manor D, Trader DJ, Hildeman DA, Drewry DH, Dowling DJ, Hosfield DJ, Smith DM, Moreira D, Siderovski DP, Shum D, Krist DT, Riches DWH, Ferraris DM, Anderson DH, Coombe DR, Welsbie DS, Hu D, Ortiz D, Alramadhani D, Zhang D, Chaudhuri D, Slotboom DJ, Ronning DR, Lee D, Dirksen D, Shoue DA, Zochodne DW, Krishnamurthy D, Duncan D, Glubb DM, Gelardi ELM, Hsiao EC, Lynn EG, Silva EB, Aguilera E, Lenci E, Abraham ET, Lama E, Mameli E, Leung E, Giles E, Christensen EM, Mason ER, Petretto E, Trakhtenberg EF, Rubin EJ, Strauss E, Thompson EW, Cione E, Lisabeth EM, Fan E, Kroon EG, Jo E, García-Cuesta EM, Glukhov E, Gavathiotis E, Yu F, Xiang F, Leng F, Wang F, Ingoglia F, van den Akker F, Borriello F, Vizeacoumar FJ, Luh F, Buckner FS, Vizeacoumar FS, Bdira FB, Svensson F, Rodriguez GM, Bognár G, Lembo G, Zhang G, Dempsey G, Eitzen G, Mayer G, Greene GL, Garcia GA, Lukacs GL, Prikler G, Parico GCG, Colotti G, De Keulenaer G, Cortopassi G, Roti G, Girolimetti G, Fiermonte G, Gasparre G, Leuzzi G, Dahal G, Michlewski G, Conn GL, Stuchbury GD, Bowman GR, Popowicz GM, Veit G, de Souza GE, Akk G, Caljon G, Alvarez G, Rucinski G, Lee G, Cildir G, Li H, Breton HE, Jafar-Nejad H, Zhou H, Moore HP, Tilford H, Yuan H, Shim H, Wulff H, Hoppe H, Chaytow H, Tam HK, Van Remmen H, Xu H, Debonsi HM, Lieberman HB, Jung H, Fan HY, Feng H, Zhou H, Kim HJ, Greig IR, Caliandro I, Corvo I, Arozarena I, Mungrue IN, Verhamme IM, Qureshi IA, Lotsaris I, Cakir I, Perry JJP, Kwiatkowski J, Boorman J, Ferreira J, Fries J, Kratz JM, Miner J, Siqueira-Neto JL, Granneman JG, Ng J, Shorter J, Voss JH, Gebauer JM, Chuah J, Mousa JJ, Maynes JT, Evans JD, Dickhout J, MacKeigan JP, Jossart JN, Zhou J, Lin J, Xu J, Wang J, Zhu J, Liao J, Xu J, Zhao J, Lin J, Lee J, Reis J, Stetefeld J, Bruning JB, Bruning JB, Coles JG, Tanner JJ, Pascal JM, So J, Pederick JL, Costoya JA, Rayman JB, Maciag JJ, Nasburg JA, Gruber JJ, Finkelstein JM, Watkins J, Rodríguez-Frade JM, Arias JAS, Lasarte JJ, Oyarzabal J, Milosavljevic J, Cools J, Lescar J, Bogomolovas J, Wang J, Kee JM, Kee JM, Liao J, Sistla JC, Abrahão JS, Sishtla K, Francisco KR, Hansen KB, Molyneaux KA, Cunningham KA, Martin KR, Gadar K, Ojo KK, Wong KS, Wentworth KL, Lai K, Lobb KA, Hopkins KM, Parang K, Machaca K, Pham K, Ghilarducci K, Sugamori KS, McManus KJ, Musta K, Faller KME, Nagamori K, Mostert KJ, Korotkov KV, Liu K, Smith KS, Sarosiek K, Rohde KH, Kim KK, Lee KH, Pusztai L, Lehtiö L, Haupt LM, Cowen LE, Byrne LJ, Su L, Wert-Lamas L, Puchades-Carrasco L, Chen L, Malkas LH, Zhuo L, Hedstrom L, Hedstrom L, Walensky LD, Antonelli L, Iommarini L, Whitesell L, Randall LM, Fathallah MD, Nagai MH, Kilkenny ML, Ben-Johny M, Lussier MP, Windisch MP, Lolicato M, Lolli ML, Vleminckx M, Caroleo MC, Macias MJ, Valli M, Barghash MM, Mellado M, Tye MA, Wilson MA, Hannink M, Ashton MR, Cerna MVC, Giorgis M, Safo MK, Maurice MS, McDowell MA, Pasquali M, Mehedi M, Serafim MSM, Soellner MB, Alteen MG, Champion MM, Skorodinsky M, O’Mara ML, Bedi M, Rizzi M, Levin M, Mowat M, Jackson MR, Paige M, Al-Yozbaki M, Giardini MA, Maksimainen MM, De Luise M, Hussain MS, Christodoulides M, Stec N, Zelinskaya N, Van Pelt N, Merrill NM, Singh N, Kootstra NA, Singh N, Gandhi NS, Chan NL, Trinh NM, Schneider NO, Matovic N, Horstmann N, Longo N, Bharambe N, Rouzbeh N, Mahmoodi N, Gumede NJ, Anastasio NC, Khalaf NB, Rabal O, Kandror O, Escaffre O, Silvennoinen O, Bishop OT, Iglesias P, Sobrado P, Chuong P, O’Connell P, Martin-Malpartida P, Mellor P, Fish PV, Moreira POL, Zhou P, Liu P, Liu P, Wu P, Agogo-Mawuli P, Jones PL, Ngoi P, Toogood P, Ip P, von Hundelshausen P, Lee PH, Rowswell-Turner RB, Balaña-Fouce R, Rocha REO, Guido RVC, Ferreira RS, Agrawal RK, Harijan RK, Ramachandran R, Verma R, Singh RK, Tiwari RK, Mazitschek R, Koppisetti RK, Dame RT, Douville RN, Austin RC, Taylor RE, Moore RG, Ebright RH, Angell RM, Yan R, Kejriwal R, Batey RA, Blelloch R, Vandenberg RJ, Hickey RJ, Kelm RJ, Lake RJ, Bradley RK, Blumenthal RM, Solano R, Gierse RM, Viola RE, McCarthy RR, Reguera RM, Uribe RV, do Monte-Neto RL, Gorgoglione R, Cullinane RT, Katyal S, Hossain S, Phadke S, Shelburne SA, Geden SE, Johannsen S, Wazir S, Legare S, Landfear SM, Radhakrishnan SK, Ammendola S, Dzhumaev S, Seo SY, Li S, Zhou S, Chu S, Chauhan S, Maruta S, Ashkar SR, Shyng SL, Conticello SG, Buroni S, Garavaglia S, White SJ, Zhu S, Tsimbalyuk S, Chadni SH, Byun SY, Park S, Xu SQ, Banerjee S, Zahler S, Espinoza S, Gustincich S, Sainas S, Celano SL, Capuzzi SJ, Waggoner SN, Poirier S, Olson SH, Marx SO, Van Doren SR, Sarilla S, Brady-Kalnay SM, Dallman S, Azeem SM, Teramoto T, Mehlman T, Swart T, Abaffy T, Akopian T, Haikarainen T, Moreda TL, Ikegami T, Teixeira TR, Jayasinghe TD, Gillingwater TH, Kampourakis T, Richardson TI, Herdendorf TJ, Kotzé TJ, O’Meara TR, Corson TW, Hermle T, Ogunwa TH, Lan T, Su T, Banjo T, O’Mara TA, Chou T, Chou TF, Baumann U, Desai UR, Pai VP, Thai VC, Tandon V, Banerji V, Robinson VL, Gunasekharan V, Namasivayam V, Segers VFM, Maranda V, Dolce V, Maltarollo VG, Scoffone VC, Woods VA, Ronchi VP, Van Hung Le V, Clayton WB, Lowther WT, Houry WA, Li W, Tang W, Zhang W, Van Voorhis WC, Donaldson WA, Hahn WC, Kerr WG, Gerwick WH, Bradshaw WJ, Foong WE, Blanchet X, Wu X, Lu X, Qi X, Xu X, Yu X, Qin X, Wang X, Yuan X, Zhang X, Zhang YJ, Hu Y, Aldhamen YA, Chen Y, Li Y, Sun Y, Zhu Y, Gupta YK, Pérez-Pertejo Y, Li Y, Tang Y, He Y, Tse-Dinh YC, Sidorova YA, Yen Y, Li Y, Frangos ZJ, Chung Z, Su Z, Wang Z, Zhang Z, Liu Z, Inde Z, Artía Z, Heifets A. AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study. Sci Rep 2024; 14:7526. [PMID: 38565852 PMCID: PMC10987645 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54655-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery.
Collapse
|
8
|
Dow LF, Case AM, Paustian MP, Pinkerton BR, Simeon P, Trippier PC. The evolution of small molecule enzyme activators. RSC Med Chem 2023; 14:2206-2230. [PMID: 37974956 PMCID: PMC10650962 DOI: 10.1039/d3md00399j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
There is a myriad of enzymes within the body responsible for maintaining homeostasis by providing the means to convert substrates to products as and when required. Physiological enzymes are tightly controlled by many signaling pathways and their products subsequently control other pathways. Traditionally, most drug discovery efforts focus on identifying enzyme inhibitors, due to upregulation being prevalent in many diseases and the existence of endogenous substrates that can be modified to afford inhibitor compounds. As enzyme downregulation and reduction of endogenous activators are observed in multiple diseases, the identification of small molecules with the ability to activate enzymes has recently entered the medicinal chemistry toolbox to afford chemical probes and potential therapeutics as an alternative means to intervene in diseases. In this review we highlight the progress made in the identification and advancement of non-kinase enzyme activators and their potential in treating various disease states.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Louise F Dow
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE 68106 USA
| | - Alfie M Case
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE 68106 USA
| | - Megan P Paustian
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE 68106 USA
| | - Braeden R Pinkerton
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE 68106 USA
| | - Princess Simeon
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE 68106 USA
| | - Paul C Trippier
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE 68106 USA
- Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE 68106 USA
- UNMC Center for Drug Discovery, University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE 68106 USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Dias RFC, Ribeiro BMRM, Cassani NM, Farago DN, Antoniucci GA, de Oliveira Rocha RE, de Oliveira Souza F, Pilau EJ, Jardim ACG, Ferreira RS, de Oliveira Rezende Júnior C. Discovery and structural optimization of a new series of N-acyl-2-aminobenzothiazole as inhibitors of Zika virus. Bioorg Med Chem 2023; 95:117488. [PMID: 37812885 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2023.117488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023]
Abstract
Zika virus infection is associated to severe diseases such as congenital microcephaly and Zika fever causing serious harm to humans and special concern to health systems in low-income countries. Currently, there are no approved drugs against the virus, and the development of anti-Zika virus drugs is thus urgent. The present investigation describes the discovery and hit expansion of a N-acyl-2-aminobenzothiazole series of compounds against Zika virus replication. A structure-activity relationship study was obtained with the synthesis and evaluation of anti-Zika virus activity and cytotoxicity on Vero cells of nineteen derivatives. The three optimized compounds were 2.2-fold more potent than the initial hit and 20.9, 7.7 and 6.4-fold more selective. Subsequent phenotypic and biochemical assays were performed to evidence whether non-structural proteins, such as the complex NS2B-NS3pro, are related to the mechanism of action of the most active compounds.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Renieidy Flávia Clemente Dias
- Laboratório de Síntese de Candidatos a Fármacos, Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, MG 38400-902, Brazil
| | - Beatriz Murta Rezende Moraes Ribeiro
- Laboratório de Modelagem Molecular e Planejamento de Fármacos, Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Natasha Marques Cassani
- Laboratório de Pesquisa em Antivirais (LAPAV), Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, MG 38400-902, Brazil
| | - Danilo Nascimento Farago
- Laboratório de Síntese de Candidatos a Fármacos, Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, MG 38400-902, Brazil
| | - Giovanna André Antoniucci
- Laboratório de Pesquisa em Antivirais (LAPAV), Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, MG 38400-902, Brazil
| | - Rafael Eduardo de Oliveira Rocha
- Laboratório de Modelagem Molecular e Planejamento de Fármacos, Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Felipe de Oliveira Souza
- Laboratório de Biomoléculas e Espectrometria de Massas (LaBioMass), State University of Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR 807020-900, Brazil
| | - Eduardo Jorge Pilau
- Laboratório de Biomoléculas e Espectrometria de Massas (LaBioMass), State University of Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR 807020-900, Brazil
| | - Ana Carolina Gomes Jardim
- Laboratório de Pesquisa em Antivirais (LAPAV), Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, MG 38400-902, Brazil
| | - Rafaela Salgado Ferreira
- Laboratório de Modelagem Molecular e Planejamento de Fármacos, Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Celso de Oliveira Rezende Júnior
- Laboratório de Síntese de Candidatos a Fármacos, Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, MG 38400-902, Brazil.
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Glenn IS, Hall LN, Khalid MM, Ott M, Shoichet BK. Colloidal aggregation confounds cell-based Covid-19 antiviral screens. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.27.564435. [PMID: 37961552 PMCID: PMC10634915 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.27.564435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Colloidal aggregation is one of the largest contributors to false-positives in early drug discovery and chemical biology. Much work has focused on its impact on pure-protein screens; here we consider aggregations role in cell-based infectivity assays in Covid-19 drug repurposing. We began by investigating the potential aggregation of 41 drug candidates reported as SARs-CoV-2 entry inhibitors. Of these, 17 formed colloidal-particles by dynamic light scattering and exhibited detergent-dependent enzyme inhibition. To evaluate antiviral efficacy of the drugs in cells we used spike pseudotyped lentivirus and pre-saturation of the colloids with BSA. The antiviral potency of the aggregators was diminished by at least 10-fold and often entirely eliminated in the presence of BSA, suggesting antiviral activity can be attributed to the non-specific nature of the colloids. In confocal microscopy, the aggregates induced fluorescent puncta of labeled spike protein, consistent with sequestration of the protein on the colloidal particles. Addition of either non-ionic detergent or of BSA disrupted these puncta. These observations suggest that colloidal aggregation is common among cell-based anti-viral drug repurposing, and perhaps cell-based assays more broadly, and offers rapid counter-screens to detect and eliminate these artifacts, allowing the community invest resources in compounds with true potential as a Covid-19 therapeutic.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Isabella S Glenn
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Lauren N Hall
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Mir M Khalid
- Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, California, United States
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States
| | - Melanie Ott
- Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, California, United States
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, California, United States
| | - Brian K Shoichet
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Miljkovic M, Lozano S, Castellote I, de Cózar C, Villegas-Moreno AI, Gamallo P, Jimenez-Alfaro Martinez D, Fernández-Álvaro E, Ballell L, Garcia GA. Novel inhibitors that target bacterial virulence identified via HTS against intra-macrophage survival of Shigella flexneri. mSphere 2023; 8:e0015423. [PMID: 37565760 PMCID: PMC10597453 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00154-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Shigella flexneri is a facultative intracellular pathogen that causes shigellosis, a human diarrheal disease characterized by the destruction of the colonic epithelium. Novel antimicrobial compounds to treat infections are urgently needed due to the proliferation of bacterial antibiotic resistance and lack of new effective antimicrobials in the market. Our approach to find compounds that block the Shigella virulence pathway has three potential advantages: (i) resistance development should be minimized due to the lack of growth selection pressure, (ii) no resistance due to environmental antibiotic exposure should be developed since the virulence pathways are not activated outside of host infection, and (iii) the normal intestinal microbiota, which do not have the targeted virulence pathways, should be unharmed. We chose to utilize two phenotypic assays, inhibition of Shigella survival in macrophages and Shigella growth inhibition (minimum inhibitory concentration), to interrogate the 1.7 M compound screening collection subset of the GlaxoSmithKline drug discovery chemical library. A number of secondary assays on the hit compounds resulting from the primary screens were conducted, which, in combination with chemical, structural, and physical property analyses, narrowed the final hit list to 44 promising compounds for further drug discovery efforts. The rapid development of antibiotic resistance is a critical problem that has the potential of returning the world to a "pre-antibiotic" type of environment, where millions of people will die from previously treatable infections. One relatively newer approach to minimize the selection pressures for the development of resistance is to target virulence pathways. This is anticipated to eliminate any resistance selection pressure in environmental exposure to virulence-targeted antibiotics and will have the added benefit of not affecting the non-virulent microbiome. This paper describes the development and application of a simple, reproducible, and sensitive assay to interrogate an extensive chemical library in high-throughput screening format for activity against the survival of Shigella flexneri 2457T-nl in THP-1 macrophages. The ability to screen very large numbers of compounds in a reasonable time frame (~1.7 M compounds in ~8 months) distinguishes this assay as a powerful tool in further exploring new compounds with intracellular effect on S. flexneri or other pathogens with similar pathways of pathogenesis. The assay utilizes a luciferase reporter which is extremely rapid, simple, relatively inexpensive, and sensitive and possesses a broad linear range. The assay also utilized THP-1 cells that resemble primary monocytes and macrophages in morphology and differentiation properties. THP-1 cells have advantages over human primary monocytes or macrophages because they are highly plastic and their homogeneous genetic background minimizes the degree of variability in the cell phenotype (1). The intracellular and virulence-targeted selectivity of our methodology, determined via secondary screening, is an enormous advantage. Our main interest focuses on hits that are targeting virulence, and the most promising compounds with adequate physicochemical and drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic (DMPK) properties will be progressed to a suitable in vivo shigellosis model to evaluate the therapeutic potential of this approach. Additionally, compounds that act via a host-directed mechanism could be a promising source for further research given that it would allow a whole new, specific, and controlled approach to the treatment of diseases caused by some pathogenic bacteria.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marija Miljkovic
- Department of Medical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- GSK Global Health Unit, Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - George A. Garcia
- Department of Medical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Alves VM, Yasgar A, Wellnitz J, Rai G, Rath M, Braga RC, Capuzzi SJ, Simeonov A, Muratov EN, Zakharov AV, Tropsha A. Lies and Liabilities: Computational Assessment of High-Throughput Screening Hits to Identify Artifact Compounds. J Med Chem 2023; 66:12828-12839. [PMID: 37677128 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c00482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
Hits from high-throughput screening (HTS) of chemical libraries are often false positives due to their interference with assay detection technology. In response, we generated the largest publicly available library of chemical liabilities and developed "Liability Predictor," a free web tool to predict HTS artifacts. More specifically, we generated, curated, and integrated HTS data sets for thiol reactivity, redox activity, and luciferase (firefly and nano) activity and developed and validated quantitative structure-interference relationship (QSIR) models to predict these nuisance behaviors. The resulting models showed 58-78% external balanced accuracy for 256 external compounds per assay. QSIR models developed and validated herein identify nuisance compounds among experimental hits more reliably than do popular PAINS filters. Both the models and the curated data sets were implemented in "Liability Predictor," publicly available at https://liability.mml.unc.edu/. "Liability Predictor" may be used as part of chemical library design or for triaging HTS hits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vinicius M Alves
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Adam Yasgar
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - James Wellnitz
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Ganesha Rai
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Marielle Rath
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | | | - Stephen J Capuzzi
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Anton Simeonov
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Eugene N Muratov
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, PB 58059, Brazil
| | - Alexey V Zakharov
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Alexander Tropsha
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Santos LH, Rocha REO, Dias DL, Ribeiro BMRM, Serafim MSM, Abrahão JS, Ferreira RS. Evaluating Known Zika Virus NS2B-NS3 Protease Inhibitor Scaffolds via In Silico Screening and Biochemical Assays. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2023; 16:1319. [PMID: 37765127 PMCID: PMC10537087 DOI: 10.3390/ph16091319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Revised: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The NS2B-NS3 protease (NS2B-NS3pro) is regarded as an interesting molecular target for drug design, discovery, and development because of its essential role in the Zika virus (ZIKV) cycle. Although no NS2B-NS3pro inhibitors have reached clinical trials, the employment of drug-like scaffolds can facilitate the screening process for new compounds. In this study, we performed a combination of ligand-based and structure-based in silico methods targeting two known non-peptide small-molecule scaffolds with micromolar inhibitory activity against ZIKV NS2B-NS3pro by a virtual screening (VS) of promising compounds. Based on these two scaffolds, we selected 13 compounds from an initial library of 509 compounds from ZINC15's similarity search. These compounds exhibited structural modifications that are distinct from previously known compounds yet keep pertinent features for binding. Despite promising outcomes from molecular docking and initial enzymatic assays against NS2B-NS3pro, confirmatory assays with a counter-screening enzyme revealed an artifactual inhibition of the assessed compounds. However, we report two compounds, 9 and 11, that exhibited antiviral properties at a concentration of 50 μM in cellular-based assays. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the ongoing research on anti-ZIKV compounds to facilitate and improve the development of new inhibitors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucianna H. Santos
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Rafael E. O. Rocha
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Diego L. Dias
- Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil (M.S.M.S.)
| | - Beatriz M. R. M. Ribeiro
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Mateus Sá M. Serafim
- Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil (M.S.M.S.)
| | - Jônatas S. Abrahão
- Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil (M.S.M.S.)
| | - Rafaela S. Ferreira
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Maus H, Müller P, Meta M, Hoba SN, Hammerschmidt SJ, Zimmermann RA, Zimmer C, Fuchs N, Schirmeister T, Barthels F. Next Generation of Fluorometric Protease Assays: 7-Nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl-amides (NBD-Amides) as Class-Spanning Protease Substrates. Chemistry 2023; 29:e202301855. [PMID: 37313627 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202301855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Fluorometric assays are one of the most frequently used methods in medicinal chemistry. Over the last 50 years, the reporter molecules for the detection of protease activity have evolved from first-generation colorimetric p-nitroanilides, through FRET substrates, and 7-amino-4-methyl coumarin (AMC)-based substrates. The aim of further substrate development is to increase sensitivity and reduce vulnerability to assay interferences. Herein, we describe a new generation of substrates for protease assays based on 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl-amides (NBD-amides). In this study, we synthesized and tested substrates for 10 different proteases from the serine-, cysteine-, and metalloprotease classes. Enzyme- and substrate-specific parameters as well as the inhibitory activity of literature-known inhibitors confirmed their suitability for application in fluorometric assays. Hence, we were able to present NBD-based alternatives for common protease substrates. In conclusion, these NBD substrates are not only less susceptible to common assay interference, but they are also able to replace FRET-based substrates with the requirement of a prime site amino acid residue.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Maus
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Patrick Müller
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Mergim Meta
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Sabrina N Hoba
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Stefan J Hammerschmidt
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Robert A Zimmermann
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Collin Zimmer
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Natalie Fuchs
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Tanja Schirmeister
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Fabian Barthels
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Santos VC, Leite PG, Santos LH, Pascutti PG, Kolb P, Machado FS, Ferreira RS. Structure-based discovery of novel cruzain inhibitors with distinct trypanocidal activity profiles. Eur J Med Chem 2023; 257:115498. [PMID: 37290182 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2023.115498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Revised: 05/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Over 110 years after the first formal description of Chagas disease, the trypanocidal drugs thus far available have limited efficacy and several side effects. This encourages the search for novel treatments that inhibit T. cruzi targets. One of the most studied anti-T. cruzi targets is the cysteine protease cruzain; it is associated with metacyclogenesis, replication, and invasion of the host cells. We used computational techniques to identify novel molecular scaffolds that act as cruzain inhibitors. First, with a docking-based virtual screening, we identified compound 8, a competitive cruzain inhibitor with a Ki of 4.6 μM. Then, aided by molecular dynamics simulations, cheminformatics, and docking, we identified the analog compound 22 with a Ki of 27 μM. Surprisingly, despite sharing the same isoquinoline scaffold, compound 8 presented higher trypanocidal activity against the epimastigote forms, while compound 22, against the trypomastigotes and amastigotes. Taken together, compounds 8 and 22 represent a promising scaffold for further development of trypanocidal compounds as drug candidates for treating Chagas disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Viviane Corrêa Santos
- Laboratório de Modelagem Molecular e Planejamento de Fármacos, Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Paulo Gaio Leite
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antonio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Lucianna Helene Santos
- Laboratório de Modelagem Molecular e Planejamento de Fármacos, Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Pedro Geraldo Pascutti
- Laboratório de Modelagem e Dinâmica Molecular, Instituto de Biofísica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 21944-970, Brazil
| | - Peter Kolb
- Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Marbacher Weg 6, 35037, Marburg, Germany
| | - Fabiana Simão Machado
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antonio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Rafaela Salgado Ferreira
- Laboratório de Modelagem Molecular e Planejamento de Fármacos, Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Reid DJ, Thibert S, Zhou M. Dissecting the structural heterogeneity of proteins by native mass spectrometry. Protein Sci 2023; 32:e4612. [PMID: 36851867 PMCID: PMC10031758 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Revised: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/01/2023]
Abstract
A single gene yields many forms of proteins via combinations of posttranscriptional/posttranslational modifications. Proteins also fold into higher-order structures and interact with other molecules. The combined molecular diversity leads to the heterogeneity of proteins that manifests as distinct phenotypes. Structural biology has generated vast amounts of data, effectively enabling accurate structural prediction by computational methods. However, structures are often obtained heterologously under homogeneous states in vitro. The lack of native heterogeneity under cellular context creates challenges in precisely connecting the structural data to phenotypes. Mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics methods can profile proteome composition of complex biological samples. Most MS methods follow the "bottom-up" approach, which denatures and digests proteins into short peptide fragments for ease of detection. Coupled with chemical biology approaches, higher-order structures can be probed via incorporation of covalent labels on native proteins that are maintained at the peptide level. Alternatively, native MS follows the "top-down" approach and directly analyzes intact proteins under nondenaturing conditions. Various tandem MS activation methods can dissect the intact proteins for in-depth structural elucidation. Herein, we review recent native MS applications for characterizing heterogeneous samples, including proteins binding to mixtures of ligands, homo/hetero-complexes with varying stoichiometry, intrinsically disordered proteins with dynamic conformations, glycoprotein complexes with mixed modification states, and active membrane protein complexes in near-native membrane environments. We summarize the benefits, challenges, and ongoing developments in native MS, with the hope to demonstrate an emerging technology that complements other tools by filling the knowledge gaps in understanding the molecular heterogeneity of proteins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Deseree J. Reid
- Chemical and Biological Signature SciencesPacific Northwest National LaboratoryRichlandWashingtonUSA
| | - Stephanie Thibert
- Environmental Molecular Sciences LaboratoryPacific Northwest National LaboratoryRichlandWashingtonUSA
| | - Mowei Zhou
- Environmental Molecular Sciences LaboratoryPacific Northwest National LaboratoryRichlandWashingtonUSA
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Biosynthesis and characterization of yellow pigment from Aspergillus nidulans strain JAS3 isolated from Thirumullavaram, Indian Ocean and its therapeutic activity against clinical pathogens. Biologia (Bratisl) 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s11756-023-01337-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2023]
|
18
|
Screening the Pathogen Box to Discover and Characterize New Cruzain and TbrCatL Inhibitors. Pathogens 2023; 12:pathogens12020251. [PMID: 36839523 PMCID: PMC9967275 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12020251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Chagas disease and Human African Trypanosomiasis, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and T. brucei, respectively, pose relevant health challenges throughout the world, placing 65 to 70 million people at risk each. Given the limited efficacy and severe side effects associated with current chemotherapy, new drugs are urgently needed for both diseases. Here, we report the screening of the Pathogen Box collection against cruzain and TbrCatL, validated targets for Chagas disease and Human African Trypanosomiasis, respectively. Enzymatic assays were applied to screen 400 compounds, validate hits, determine IC50 values and, when possible, mechanisms of inhibition. In this case, 12 initial hits were obtained and ten were prioritized for follow-up. IC50 values were obtained for six of them (hit rate = 1.5%) and ranged from 0.46 ± 0.03 to 27 ± 3 µM. MMV687246 was found to be a mixed inhibitor of cruzain (Ki = 57 ± 6 µM) while MMV688179 was found to be a competitive inhibitor of cruzain with a nanomolar potency (Ki = 165 ± 63 nM). A putative binding mode for MMV688179 was obtained by docking. The six hits discovered against cruzain and TbrCatL are of great interest for further optimization by the medicinal chemistry community.
Collapse
|
19
|
Enzyme Inhibitors from Gorgonians and Soft Corals. Mar Drugs 2023; 21:md21020104. [PMID: 36827145 PMCID: PMC9963996 DOI: 10.3390/md21020104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Revised: 01/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
For decades, gorgonians and soft corals have been considered promising sources of bioactive compounds, attracting the interest of scientists from different fields. As the most abundant bioactive compounds within these organisms, terpenoids, steroids, and alkaloids have received the highest coverage in the scientific literature. However, enzyme inhibitors, a functional class of bioactive compounds with high potential for industry and biomedicine, have received much less notoriety. Thus, we revised scientific literature (1974-2022) on the field of marine natural products searching for enzyme inhibitors isolated from these taxonomic groups. In this review, we present representative enzyme inhibitors from an enzymological perspective, highlighting, when available, data on specific targets, structures, potencies, mechanisms of inhibition, and physiological roles for these molecules. As most of the characterization studies for the new inhibitors remain incomplete, we also included a methodological section presenting a general strategy to face this goal by accomplishing STRENDA (Standards for Reporting Enzymology Data) project guidelines.
Collapse
|
20
|
Santos LH, Kronenberger T, Almeida RG, Silva EB, Rocha REO, Oliveira JC, Barreto LV, Skinner D, Fajtová P, Giardini MA, Woodworth B, Bardine C, Lourenço AL, Craik CS, Poso A, Podust LM, McKerrow JH, Siqueira-Neto JL, O’Donoghue AJ, da Silva
Júnior EN, Ferreira RS. Structure-Based Identification of Naphthoquinones and Derivatives as Novel Inhibitors of Main Protease M pro and Papain-like Protease PL pro of SARS-CoV-2. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:6553-6573. [PMID: 35960688 PMCID: PMC9397563 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 urgently demands novel direct antiviral treatments. The main protease (Mpro) and papain-like protease (PLpro) are attractive drug targets among coronaviruses due to their essential role in processing the polyproteins translated from the viral RNA. In this study, we virtually screened 688 naphthoquinoidal compounds and derivatives against Mpro of SARS-CoV-2. Twenty-four derivatives were selected and evaluated in biochemical assays against Mpro using a novel fluorogenic substrate. In parallel, these compounds were also assayed with SARS-CoV-2 PLpro. Four compounds inhibited Mpro with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values between 0.41 μM and 9.0 μM. In addition, three compounds inhibited PLpro with IC50 ranging from 1.9 μM to 3.3 μM. To verify the specificity of Mpro and PLpro inhibitors, our experiments included an assessment of common causes of false positives such as aggregation, high compound fluorescence, and inhibition by enzyme oxidation. Altogether, we confirmed novel classes of specific Mpro and PLpro inhibitors. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest stable binding modes for Mpro inhibitors with frequent interactions with residues in the S1 and S2 pockets of the active site. For two PLpro inhibitors, interactions occur in the S3 and S4 pockets. In summary, our structure-based computational and biochemical approach identified novel naphthoquinonal scaffolds that can be further explored as SARS-CoV-2 antivirals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucianna H. Santos
- Department of Biochemistry and Immunology,
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Thales Kronenberger
- Department of Oncology and Pneumonology, Internal
Medicine VIII, University Hospital Tübingen,
Otfried-Müller-Straße 10, DE72076 Tübingen,
Germany
- School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences,
University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio,
Finland
- Institute of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical/Medicinal
Chemistry and Tübingen Center for Academic Drug Discovery (TüCAD2),
Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Auf der
Morgenstelle 8, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Renata G. Almeida
- Institute of Exact Sciences, Department of Chemistry,
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Elany B. Silva
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Rafael E. O. Rocha
- Department of Biochemistry and Immunology,
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Joyce C. Oliveira
- Institute of Exact Sciences, Department of Chemistry,
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Luiza V. Barreto
- Department of Biochemistry and Immunology,
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Danielle Skinner
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Pavla Fajtová
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry,
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 16610 Prague,
Czech Republic
| | - Miriam A. Giardini
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Brendon Woodworth
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious
Diseases, University of California San Diego, La Jolla,
California 92093, United States
| | - Conner Bardine
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry,
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco,
California 94143, United States
| | - André L. Lourenço
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry,
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco,
California 94143, United States
| | - Charles S. Craik
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry,
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco,
California 94143, United States
| | - Antti Poso
- Department of Oncology and Pneumonology, Internal
Medicine VIII, University Hospital Tübingen,
Otfried-Müller-Straße 10, DE72076 Tübingen,
Germany
- School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences,
University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio,
Finland
| | - Larissa M. Podust
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - James H. McKerrow
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Jair L. Siqueira-Neto
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Anthony J. O’Donoghue
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Eufrânio N. da Silva
Júnior
- Institute of Exact Sciences, Department of Chemistry,
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais 31270-901, Brazil
| | - Rafaela S. Ferreira
- Department of Biochemistry and Immunology,
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais 31270-901, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Nair S, Abraham J. Bioproduction and Characterization of Pigments from Streptomyces sp. Isolated from Marine Biotope. APPL BIOCHEM MICRO+ 2022. [DOI: 10.1134/s0003683822060114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/07/2022]
|
22
|
Bieniek MK, Cree B, Pirie R, Horton JT, Tatum NJ, Cole DJ. An open-source molecular builder and free energy preparation workflow. Commun Chem 2022; 5:136. [PMID: 36320862 PMCID: PMC9607723 DOI: 10.1038/s42004-022-00754-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Automated free energy calculations for the prediction of binding free energies of congeneric series of ligands to a protein target are growing in popularity, but building reliable initial binding poses for the ligands is challenging. Here, we introduce the open-source FEgrow workflow for building user-defined congeneric series of ligands in protein binding pockets for input to free energy calculations. For a given ligand core and receptor structure, FEgrow enumerates and optimises the bioactive conformations of the grown functional group(s), making use of hybrid machine learning/molecular mechanics potential energy functions where possible. Low energy structures are optionally scored using the gnina convolutional neural network scoring function, and output for more rigorous protein-ligand binding free energy predictions. We illustrate use of the workflow by building and scoring binding poses for ten congeneric series of ligands bound to targets from a standard, high quality dataset of protein-ligand complexes. Furthermore, we build a set of 13 inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease from the literature, and use free energy calculations to retrospectively compute their relative binding free energies. FEgrow is freely available at https://github.com/cole-group/FEgrow, along with a tutorial.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mateusz K. Bieniek
- School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU UK
| | - Ben Cree
- School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU UK
| | - Rachael Pirie
- School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU UK
| | - Joshua T. Horton
- School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU UK
| | - Natalie J. Tatum
- Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH UK
| | - Daniel J. Cole
- School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU UK
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
From rational design to serendipity: Discovery of novel thiosemicarbazones as potent trypanocidal compounds. Eur J Med Chem 2022; 244:114876. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
|
24
|
Croaker A, Davis A, Carroll A, Liu L, Myers SP. Understanding of black salve toxicity by multi-compound cytotoxicity assays. BMC Complement Med Ther 2022; 22:247. [PMID: 36127674 PMCID: PMC9487053 DOI: 10.1186/s12906-022-03721-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Black salve is a controversial complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) associated with skin toxicity and skin cancer treatment failures. Black salve formulations vary between manufacturers and contain a number of botanical and synthetic constituents. The skin cancer cytotoxicity of a number of these constituents has not been assessed to date. The alkaloids from the rhizomes of Sanguinaria canadensis, a key black salve ingredient, have had their single compound cytotoxicity assessed; however, whether they possess synergistic cytotoxicity with other compounds has not been studied and is of direct clinical relevance. This research aimed to improve our understanding of the skin cancer cytotoxicity of black salve constituents.
Methods
The cytotoxicity of individual and combination black salve constituents were assessed against the A375 melanoma and A431 squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. Cytotoxicity was determined using the Resazurin assay with fluorescence measured using a Tecan Infinite 200 Pro Microplate reader, compound cytotoxicity being compared to that of the topical cancer therapeutic agent, 5- fluouracil. Docetaxal was used as a positive control. Dunnetts p value was used to determine whether significant synergistic cytotoxicity was present.
Results
Sanguinarine was the most cytotoxic compound tested with a 24-hour IC50 of 2.1 μM against the A375 Melanoma cell line and 3.14 μM against the A431 SCC cell line. All black salve constituents showed greater cytotoxicity against the two skin cancer cell lines tested than the skin cancer therapeutic 5-Fluouracil with 24 hours of compound exposure. Chelerythrine and minor Quaternary Benzophenanthridine Alkaloids (QBAs) present in black salve, at concentrations not having a cytotoxic effect by themselves, boosted the cytotoxic effects of sanguinarine. This could be a synergistic rather than additive cytotoxic effect although the synergistic effect was cell line and concentration dependent.
Conclusions
Black salve contains several cytotoxic compounds, a number of which have been found to possess synergistic cytotoxicity for the first time against skin cancer cell lines. In addition, these compounds together increase the overall cytotoxic effect. Assessing multi-compound cytotoxicity in herbal medicine can provide additional information about both their therapeutic and toxicity potential. As black salve is currently being used by patients, further cytotoxicity work should be undertaken to assess whether synergistic cytotoxicity exists when tested in normal skin cells.
Collapse
|
25
|
Davies G, Vincent J, Packer MJ, Murray D. Grouping concentration response curves by features of their shape to aid rapid and consistent analysis of large data sets in high throughput screens. SLAS DISCOVERY : ADVANCING LIFE SCIENCES R & D 2022; 27:272-277. [PMID: 35058182 DOI: 10.1016/j.slasd.2021.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Gareth Davies
- Hit Discovery, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, UK.
| | - John Vincent
- Hit Discovery, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, UK; Discovery Science & Technology, Medicines Discovery Catapult, Alderley Park, UK
| | | | - David Murray
- Hit Discovery, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, UK; Lighthouse Laboratory, Medicines Discovery Catapult, Alderley Park, UK
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Brewitz L, Kamps JJAG, Lukacik P, Strain‐Damerell C, Zhao Y, Tumber A, Malla TR, Orville AM, Walsh MA, Schofield CJ. Mass Spectrometric Assays Reveal Discrepancies in Inhibition Profiles for the SARS-CoV-2 Papain-Like Protease. ChemMedChem 2022; 17:e202200016. [PMID: 35085423 PMCID: PMC9015526 DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202200016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The two SARS-CoV-2 proteases, i. e. the main protease (Mpro ) and the papain-like protease (PLpro ), which hydrolyze the viral polypeptide chain giving functional non-structural proteins, are essential for viral replication and are medicinal chemistry targets. We report a high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS)-based assay which directly monitors PLpro catalysis in vitro. The assay was applied to investigate the effect of reported small-molecule PLpro inhibitors and selected Mpro inhibitors on PLpro catalysis. The results reveal that some, but not all, PLpro inhibitor potencies differ substantially from those obtained using fluorescence-based assays. Some substrate-competing Mpro inhibitors, notably PF-07321332 (nirmatrelvir) which is in clinical development, do not inhibit PLpro . Less selective Mpro inhibitors, e. g. auranofin, inhibit PLpro , highlighting the potential for dual PLpro /Mpro inhibition. MS-based PLpro assays, which are orthogonal to widely employed fluorescence-based assays, are of utility in validating inhibitor potencies, especially for inhibitors operating by non-covalent mechanisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lennart Brewitz
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial ResearchUniversity of Oxford12 Mansfield RoadOX1 3TAOxfordUK
| | - Jos J. A. G. Kamps
- Diamond Light Source Ltd.Harwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0DEDidcotUK
- Research Complex at HarwellHarwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0FADidcotUK
| | - Petra Lukacik
- Diamond Light Source Ltd.Harwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0DEDidcotUK
- Research Complex at HarwellHarwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0FADidcotUK
| | - Claire Strain‐Damerell
- Diamond Light Source Ltd.Harwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0DEDidcotUK
- Research Complex at HarwellHarwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0FADidcotUK
| | - Yilin Zhao
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial ResearchUniversity of Oxford12 Mansfield RoadOX1 3TAOxfordUK
| | - Anthony Tumber
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial ResearchUniversity of Oxford12 Mansfield RoadOX1 3TAOxfordUK
| | - Tika R. Malla
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial ResearchUniversity of Oxford12 Mansfield RoadOX1 3TAOxfordUK
| | - Allen M. Orville
- Diamond Light Source Ltd.Harwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0DEDidcotUK
- Research Complex at HarwellHarwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0FADidcotUK
| | - Martin A. Walsh
- Diamond Light Source Ltd.Harwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0DEDidcotUK
- Research Complex at HarwellHarwell Science and Innovation CampusOX11 0FADidcotUK
| | - Christopher J. Schofield
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial ResearchUniversity of Oxford12 Mansfield RoadOX1 3TAOxfordUK
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Venkatraman V, Colligan TH, Lesica GT, Olson DR, Gaiser J, Copeland CJ, Wheeler TJ, Roy A. Drugsniffer: An Open Source Workflow for Virtually Screening Billions of Molecules for Binding Affinity to Protein Targets. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:874746. [PMID: 35559261 PMCID: PMC9086895 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.874746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The SARS-CoV2 pandemic has highlighted the importance of efficient and effective methods for identification of therapeutic drugs, and in particular has laid bare the need for methods that allow exploration of the full diversity of synthesizable small molecules. While classical high-throughput screening methods may consider up to millions of molecules, virtual screening methods hold the promise of enabling appraisal of billions of candidate molecules, thus expanding the search space while concurrently reducing costs and speeding discovery. Here, we describe a new screening pipeline, called drugsniffer, that is capable of rapidly exploring drug candidates from a library of billions of molecules, and is designed to support distributed computation on cluster and cloud resources. As an example of performance, our pipeline required ∼40,000 total compute hours to screen for potential drugs targeting three SARS-CoV2 proteins among a library of ∼3.7 billion candidate molecules.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vishwesh Venkatraman
- Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Thomas H. Colligan
- Department of Computer Science, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States
| | - George T. Lesica
- Department of Computer Science, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States
| | - Daniel R. Olson
- Department of Computer Science, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States
| | - Jeremiah Gaiser
- Department of Computer Science, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States
| | - Conner J. Copeland
- Department of Computer Science, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States
| | - Travis J. Wheeler
- Department of Computer Science, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States
| | - Amitava Roy
- Department of Computer Science, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States
- Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch, Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, United States
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Molina C, Ait-Ouarab L, Minoux H. Isometric Stratified Ensembles: A Partial and Incremental Adaptive Applicability Domain and Consensus-Based Classification Strategy for Highly Imbalanced Data Sets with Application to Colloidal Aggregation. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:1849-1862. [PMID: 35357194 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Partial and incremental stratification analysis of a quantitative structure-interference relationship (QSIR) is a novel strategy intended to categorize classification provided by machine learning techniques. It is based on a 2D mapping of classification statistics onto two categorical axes: the degree of consensus and level of applicability domain. An internal cross-validation set allows to determine the statistical performance of the ensemble at every 2D map stratum and hence to define isometric local performance regions with the aim of better hit ranking and selection. During training, isometric stratified ensembles (ISE) applies a recursive decorrelated variable selection and considers the cardinal ratio of classes to balance training sets and thus avoid bias due to possible class imbalance. To exemplify the interest of this strategy, three different highly imbalanced PubChem pairs of AmpC β-lactamase and cruzain inhibition assay campaigns of colloidal aggregators and complementary aggregators data set available at the AGGREGATOR ADVISOR predictor web page were employed. Statistics obtained using this new strategy show outperforming results compared to former published tools, with and without a classical applicability domain. ISE performance on classifying colloidal aggregators shows from a global AUC of 0.82, when the whole test data set is considered, up to a maximum AUC of 0.88, when its highest confidence isometric stratum is retained.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Molina
- PIKAÏROS S.A., B03 - 2 Allée de la Clairière, 31650 Saint Orens de Gameville, France
| | - Lilia Ait-Ouarab
- AMOA Ingénierie, INFOGENE S.A., 19, rue d'Orleans, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
| | - Hervé Minoux
- Data and Data Science, SANOFI R&D, 91380 Chilly-Mazarin, France
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Santos LH, Kronenberger T, Almeida RG, Silva EB, Rocha REO, Oliveira JC, Barreto LV, Skinner D, Fajtová P, Giardini MA, Woodworth B, Bardine C, Lourenço AL, Craik CS, Poso A, Podust LM, McKerrow JH, Siqueira-Neto JL, O'Donoghue AJ, da Silva Júnior EN, Ferreira RS. Structure-based identification of naphthoquinones and derivatives as novel inhibitors of main protease Mpro and papain-like protease PLpro of SARS-CoV-2. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2022:2022.01.05.475095. [PMID: 35018373 PMCID: PMC8750648 DOI: 10.1101/2022.01.05.475095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 urgently demands novel direct antiviral treatments. The main protease (Mpro) and papain-like protease (PLpro) are attractive drug targets among coronaviruses due to their essential role in processing the polyproteins translated from the viral RNA. In the present work, we virtually screened 688 naphthoquinoidal compounds and derivatives against Mpro of SARS-CoV-2. Twenty-four derivatives were selected and evaluated in biochemical assays against Mpro using a novel fluorogenic substrate. In parallel, these compounds were also assayed with SARS-CoV-2 PLpro. Four compounds inhibited Mpro with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) values between 0.41 µM and 66 µM. In addition, eight compounds inhibited PLpro with IC 50 ranging from 1.7 µM to 46 µM. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest stable binding modes for Mpro inhibitors with frequent interactions with residues in the S1 and S2 pockets of the active site. For two PLpro inhibitors, interactions occur in the S3 and S4 pockets. In summary, our structure-based computational and biochemical approach identified novel naphthoquinonal scaffolds that can be further explored as SARS-CoV-2 antivirals.
Collapse
|
30
|
Hernández González JE, Alberca LN, Masforrol González Y, Reyes Acosta O, Talevi A, Salas-Sarduy E. Tetracycline Derivatives Inhibit Plasmodial Cysteine Protease Falcipain-2 through Binding to a Distal Allosteric Site. J Chem Inf Model 2021; 62:159-175. [PMID: 34962803 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c01189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Allosteric inhibitors regulate enzyme activity from remote and usually specific pockets. As they promise an avenue for less toxic and safer drugs, the identification and characterization of allosteric inhibitors has gained great academic and biomedical interest in recent years. Research on falcipain-2 (FP-2), the major papain-like cysteine hemoglobinase of Plasmodium falciparum, might benefit from this strategy to overcome the low selectivity against human cathepsins shown by active site-directed inhibitors. Encouraged by our previous finding that methacycline inhibits FP-2 noncompetitively, here we assessed other five tetracycline derivatives against this target and characterized their inhibition mechanism. As previously shown for methacycline, tetracycline derivatives inhibited FP-2 in a noncompetitive fashion, with Ki values ranging from 121 to 190 μM. A possible binding to the S' side of the FP-2 active site, similar to that described by X-ray crystallography (PDB: 6SSZ) for the noncompetitive inhibitor E-chalcone 48 (EC48), was experimentally discarded by kinetic analysis using a large peptidyl substrate spanning the whole active site. By combining lengthy molecular dynamics (MD) simulations that allowed methacycline to diffuse from solution to different FP-2 surface regions and free energy calculations, we predicted the most likely binding mode of the ligand. Of note, the proposed binding pose explains the low differences in Ki values observed for the tested tetracycline derivatives and the calculated binding free energies match the experimental values. Overall, this study has implications for the design of novel allosteric inhibitors against FP-2 and sets the basis for further optimization of the tetracycline scaffold to produce more potent and selective inhibitors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Enrique Hernández González
- Departamento de Física, Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Rua Cristóvão Colombo, 2265, Jardim Nazareth, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo CEP 15054-000, Brazil
| | - Lucas N Alberca
- Laboratory of Bioactive Compounds Research and Development (LIDeB), Department of Biological Sciences, Exact Sciences College, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata B1900ADU, Argentina
| | | | - Osvaldo Reyes Acosta
- Chemistry and Physics Department, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Havana 10600, Cuba
| | - Alan Talevi
- Laboratory of Bioactive Compounds Research and Development (LIDeB), Department of Biological Sciences, Exact Sciences College, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata B1900ADU, Argentina
| | - Emir Salas-Sarduy
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo Ugalde"─Universidad Nacional de San Martín─CONICET, San Martín B1650HMP, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Sánchez-Ruiz A, Colmenarejo G. Updated Prediction of Aggregators and Assay-Interfering Substructures in Food Compounds. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2021; 69:15184-15194. [PMID: 34878782 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.1c05918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Positive outcomes in biochemical and biological assays of food compounds may appear due to the well-described capacity of some compounds to form colloidal aggregates that adsorb proteins, resulting in their denaturation and loss of function. This phenomenon can lead to wrongly ascribing mechanisms of biological action for these compounds (false positives) as the effect is nonspecific and promiscuous. Similar false positives can show up due to chemical (photo)reactivity, redox cycling, metal chelation, interferences with the assay technology, membrane disruption, etc., which are more frequently observed when the tested molecule has some definite interfering substructures. Although discarding false positives can be achieved experimentally, it would be very useful to have in advance a prognostic value for possible aggregation and/or interference based only in the chemical structure of the compound tested in order to be aware of possible issues, help in prioritization of compounds to test, design of appropriate assays, etc. Previously, we applied cheminformatic tools derived from the drug discovery field to identify putative aggregators and interfering substructures in a database of food compounds, the FooDB, comprising 26,457 molecules at that time. Here, we provide an updated account of that analysis based on a current, much-expanded version of the FooDB, comprising a total of 70,855 compounds. In addition, we also apply a novel machine learning model (SCAM Detective) to predict aggregators with 46-53% increased accuracies over previous models. In this way, we expect to provide the researchers in the mode of action of food compounds with a much improved, robust, and widened set of putative aggregators and interfering substructures of food compounds.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrés Sánchez-Ruiz
- Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Unit, IMDEA Food CEI UAM+CSIC, E28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Gonzalo Colmenarejo
- Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Unit, IMDEA Food CEI UAM+CSIC, E28049 Madrid, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
O'Donnell HR, Tummino TA, Bardine C, Craik CS, Shoichet BK. Colloidal Aggregators in Biochemical SARS-CoV-2 Repurposing Screens. J Med Chem 2021; 64:17530-17539. [PMID: 34812616 PMCID: PMC8665103 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
To fight COVID-19, much effort has been directed toward in vitro drug repurposing. Here, we investigate the impact of colloidal aggregation, a common screening artifact, in these repurposing campaigns. We tested 56 drugs reported as active in biochemical assays for aggregation by dynamic light scattering and by detergent-based enzyme counter screening; 19 formed colloids at concentrations similar to their literature IC50's, and another 14 were problematic. From a common repurposing library, we further selected another 15 drugs that had physical properties resembling known aggregators, finding that six aggregated at micromolar concentrations. This study suggests not only that many of the drugs repurposed for SARS-CoV-2 in biochemical assays are artifacts but that, more generally, at screening-relevant concentrations, even drugs can act artifactually via colloidal aggregation. Rapid detection of these artifacts will allow the community to focus on those molecules that genuinely have potential for treating COVID-19.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Henry R O'Donnell
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
| | - Tia A Tummino
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
- Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics, UCSF, San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
- QBI COVID-19 Research Group (QCRG), San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
| | - Conner Bardine
- Graduate Program in Chemistry & Chemical Biology, UCSF, San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
| | - Charles S Craik
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
- QBI COVID-19 Research Group (QCRG), San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
| | - Brian K Shoichet
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
- QBI COVID-19 Research Group (QCRG), San Francisco, California 94158-2550, United States
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Davoine C, Pardo A, Pochet L, Fillet M. Fragment Hit Discovery and Binding Site Characterization by Indirect Affinity Capillary Electrophoresis: Application to Factor XIIa. Anal Chem 2021; 93:14802-14809. [PMID: 34694784 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c03611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Fragment-based lead discovery is a usual strategy in drug discovery to identify innovative lead compounds. The success of this approach strongly relies on the capacity to detect weak binders and characterize their binding site. NMR and X-ray crystallography are the conventional technologies used to tackle this challenge. However, their large protein consumption and the cost of equipment reduce their accessibility. Here, an affinity capillary electrophoresis methodology was developed that enables the detection of mM binders, the determination of dissociation constants, and the characterization of the fragment binding site. On the basis of multiple equilibrium theory, dissociation constants in the μM-mM range were determined, and a new methodology is proposed to establish graphically if two fragments bind the same protein pocket. The applicability of this methodology was demonstrated experimentally on coagulation factor XIIa by evaluating pairs of fragments with expected behavior. This study reinforces the significance of using affinity capillary electrophoresis to gather valuable information for medicinal chemistry projects.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Clara Davoine
- Namur Medicine & Drug Innovation Center (NAMEDIC─NARILIS), University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium.,Laboratory for the Analysis of Medicines (LAM), Department of Pharmacy, CIRM, University of Liege, Avenue Hippocrate 15, B36 Tour 4 +3, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Alissia Pardo
- Laboratory for the Analysis of Medicines (LAM), Department of Pharmacy, CIRM, University of Liege, Avenue Hippocrate 15, B36 Tour 4 +3, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Lionel Pochet
- Namur Medicine & Drug Innovation Center (NAMEDIC─NARILIS), University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium
| | - Marianne Fillet
- Laboratory for the Analysis of Medicines (LAM), Department of Pharmacy, CIRM, University of Liege, Avenue Hippocrate 15, B36 Tour 4 +3, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Bender BJ, Gahbauer S, Luttens A, Lyu J, Webb CM, Stein RM, Fink EA, Balius TE, Carlsson J, Irwin JJ, Shoichet BK. A practical guide to large-scale docking. Nat Protoc 2021; 16:4799-4832. [PMID: 34561691 PMCID: PMC8522653 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-021-00597-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 203] [Impact Index Per Article: 67.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Structure-based docking screens of large compound libraries have become common in early drug and probe discovery. As computer efficiency has improved and compound libraries have grown, the ability to screen hundreds of millions, and even billions, of compounds has become feasible for modest-sized computer clusters. This allows the rapid and cost-effective exploration and categorization of vast chemical space into a subset enriched with potential hits for a given target. To accomplish this goal at speed, approximations are used that result in undersampling of possible configurations and inaccurate predictions of absolute binding energies. Accordingly, it is important to establish controls, as are common in other fields, to enhance the likelihood of success in spite of these challenges. Here we outline best practices and control docking calculations that help evaluate docking parameters for a given target prior to undertaking a large-scale prospective screen, with exemplification in one particular target, the melatonin receptor, where following this procedure led to direct docking hits with activities in the subnanomolar range. Additional controls are suggested to ensure specific activity for experimentally validated hit compounds. These guidelines should be useful regardless of the docking software used. Docking software described in the outlined protocol (DOCK3.7) is made freely available for academic research to explore new hits for a range of targets.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brian J Bender
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Stefan Gahbauer
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Andreas Luttens
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jiankun Lyu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Chase M Webb
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Reed M Stein
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Elissa A Fink
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Trent E Balius
- NCI RAS Initiative, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Jens Carlsson
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - John J Irwin
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Brian K Shoichet
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Barbosa da Silva E, Rocha DA, Fortes IS, Yang W, Monti L, Siqueira-Neto JL, Caffrey CR, McKerrow J, Andrade SF, Ferreira RS. Structure-Based Optimization of Quinazolines as Cruzain and TbrCATL Inhibitors. J Med Chem 2021; 64:13054-13071. [PMID: 34461718 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The cysteine proteases, cruzain and TbrCATL (rhodesain), are therapeutic targets for Chagas disease and Human African Trypanosomiasis, respectively. Among the known inhibitors for these proteases, we have described N4-benzyl-N2-phenylquinazoline-2,4-diamine (compound 7 in the original publication, 1a in this study), as a competitive cruzain inhibitor (Ki = 1.4 μM). Here, we describe the synthesis and biological evaluation of 22 analogs of 1a, containing modifications in the quinazoline core, and in the substituents in positions 2 and 4 of this ring. The analogs demonstrate low micromolar inhibition of the target proteases and cidal activity against Trypanosoma cruzi with up to two log selectivity indices in counterscreens with myoblasts. Fourteen compounds were active against Trypanosoma brucei at low to mid micromolar concentrations. During the optimization of 1a, structure-based design and prediction of physicochemical properties were employed to maintain potency against the enzymes while removing colloidal aggregator characteristics observed for some molecules in this series.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elany Barbosa da Silva
- Biochemistry and Immunology Department, Biological Sciences Institute, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 31270-901, Brazil.,Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Débora A Rocha
- Pharmaceutical Synthesis Group (PHARSG), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul 90040-060, Brazil.,Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul 90040-060, Brazil
| | - Isadora S Fortes
- Pharmaceutical Synthesis Group (PHARSG), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul 90040-060, Brazil.,Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul 90040-060, Brazil
| | - Wenqian Yang
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Ludovica Monti
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Jair L Siqueira-Neto
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Conor R Caffrey
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - James McKerrow
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0657, United States
| | - Saulo F Andrade
- Pharmaceutical Synthesis Group (PHARSG), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul 90040-060, Brazil.,Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul 90040-060, Brazil.,Graduate Program in Agricultural and Environmental Microbiology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul 90040-060, Brazil
| | - Rafaela S Ferreira
- Biochemistry and Immunology Department, Biological Sciences Institute, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 31270-901, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Oâ Donnell HR, Tummino TA, Bardine C, Craik CS, Shoichet BK. Colloidal aggregators in biochemical SARS-CoV-2 repurposing screens. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2021:2021.08.31.458413. [PMID: 34494023 PMCID: PMC8423219 DOI: 10.1101/2021.08.31.458413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
To fight the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, much effort has been directed toward drug repurposing, testing investigational and approved drugs against several viral or human proteins in vitro . Here we investigate the impact of colloidal aggregation, a common artifact in early drug discovery, in these repurposing screens. We selected 56 drugs reported to be active in biochemical assays and tested them for aggregation by both dynamic light scattering and by enzyme counter screening with and without detergent; seventeen of these drugs formed colloids at concentrations similar to their literature reported IC 50 s. To investigate the occurrence of colloidal aggregators more generally in repurposing libraries, we further selected 15 drugs that had physical properties resembling known aggregators from a common repurposing library, and found that 6 of these aggregated at micromolar concentrations. An attraction of repurposing is that drugs active on one target are considered de-risked on another. This study suggests not only that many of the drugs repurposed for SARS-CoV-2 in biochemical assays are artifacts, but that, more generally, when screened at relevant concentrations, drugs can act artifactually via colloidal aggregation. Understanding the role of aggregation, and detecting its effects rapidly, will allow the community to focus on those drugs and leads that genuinely have potential for treating COVID-19. ABSTRACT FIGURE
Collapse
|
37
|
Abstract
"There's plenty of room at the bottom" (Richard Feynman, 1959): an invitation for (metalla)carboranes to enter the (new) field of nanomedicine. For two decades, the number of publications on boron cluster compounds designed for potential applications in medicine has been constantly increasing. Hundreds of compounds have been screened in vitro or in vivo for a variety of biological activities (chemotherapeutics, radiotherapeutics, antiviral, etc.), and some have shown rather promising potential for further development. However, until now, no boron cluster compounds have made it to the clinic, and even clinical trials have been very sparse. This review introduces a new perspective in the field of medicinal boron chemistry, namely that boron-based drugs should be regarded as nanomedicine platforms, due to their peculiar self-assembly behaviour in aqueous solutions, and treated as such. Examples for boron-based 12- and 11-vertex clusters and appropriate comparative studies from medicinal (in)organic chemistry and nanomedicine, highlighting similarities, differences and gaps in physicochemical and biological characterisation methods, are provided to encourage medicinal boron chemists to fill in the gaps between chemistry laboratory and real applications in living systems by employing bioanalytical and biophysical methods for characterising and controlling the aggregation behaviour of the clusters in solution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marta Gozzi
- Institute of Inorganic ChemistryFaculty of Chemistry and MineralogyLeipzig UniversityJohannisallee 2904103LeipzigGermany
- Institute of Analytical ChemistryFaculty of Chemistry and MineralogyLeipzig UniversityLinnéstr. 304103LeipzigGermany
- Institute of Medicinal Physics and BiophysicsFaculty of MedicineLeipzig UniversityHärtelstr. 16–1804107LeipzigGermany
| | - Benedikt Schwarze
- Institute of Medicinal Physics and BiophysicsFaculty of MedicineLeipzig UniversityHärtelstr. 16–1804107LeipzigGermany
| | - Evamarie Hey‐Hawkins
- Institute of Inorganic ChemistryFaculty of Chemistry and MineralogyLeipzig UniversityJohannisallee 2904103LeipzigGermany
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Davoine C, Fillet M, Pochet L. Capillary electrophoresis as a fragment screening tool to cross-validate hits from chromogenic assay: Application to FXIIa. Talanta 2021; 226:122163. [PMID: 33676706 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2021.122163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2020] [Revised: 12/20/2020] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
In this study, a partial-filling affinity capillary electrophoresis (pf-ACE) method was developed for the cross-validation of fragment hits revealed by chromogenic factor XIIa (FXIIa) assay. Chromogenic assay produces false positives, mainly due to spectrophotometric interferences and sample purity issues. pf-ACE was selected as counter-screening technology because of its separative character and the fact that the target does not have to be attached or tagged. The effects of protein plug length, applied voltage and composition of the running buffer were examined and optimized. Detection limit in terms of dissociation constant was estimated at 400 μM. The affinity evaluation was performed close to physiological conditions (pH 7.4, ionic strength 0.13 mol L-1) in a poly (ethylene oxide)-coated capillary of 75 μm internal diameter x 33 cm length with an applied voltage of 3 kV. This method uncovered chromogenic assay's false positives due to zinc contamination. Moreover, pf-ACE supported the evaluation of compounds absorbing at 405 nm.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- C Davoine
- Namur Medicine & Drug Innovation Center (NAMEDIC - NARILIS), University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000, Namur, Belgium; Laboratory for the Analysis of Medicines (LAM), Department of Pharmacy, CIRM, University of Liege, Place du 20 Août 7, 4000, Liège, Belgium
| | - M Fillet
- Laboratory for the Analysis of Medicines (LAM), Department of Pharmacy, CIRM, University of Liege, Place du 20 Août 7, 4000, Liège, Belgium
| | - L Pochet
- Namur Medicine & Drug Innovation Center (NAMEDIC - NARILIS), University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000, Namur, Belgium.
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Allen SJ, Dower CM, Liu AX, Lumb KJ. Detection of Small-Molecule Aggregation with High-Throughput Microplate Biophysical Methods. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2021; 12:e78. [PMID: 32150343 DOI: 10.1002/cpch.78] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Small-molecule drug discovery can be hindered by the formation of aggregates that act as non-selective inhibitors of drug targets. Such aggregates appear as false positives in high-throughput screening campaigns and can bedevil structure-activity relationships during compound optimization. Protocols are described for resonant waveguide grating (RWG) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) as microplate-based high-throughput approaches to identify compound aggregation. Resonant waveguide grating and dynamic light scattering give equivalent results for the compound test set, as assessed with Bland-Altman analysis. © 2019 The Authors. Basic Protocol 1: Resonant waveguide grating (RWG) in 384-well or 1536-well plate format to detect compound aggregation Basic Protocol 2: Dynamic light scattering (DLS) in 384-well plate format to detect compound aggregation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Samantha J Allen
- Lead Discovery & Profiling, Discovery Sciences, Janssen R&D LLC, Spring House, Pennsylvania
| | - Corey M Dower
- Lead Discovery & Profiling, Discovery Sciences, Janssen R&D LLC, Spring House, Pennsylvania
| | - Annie X Liu
- Lead Discovery & Profiling, Discovery Sciences, Janssen R&D LLC, Spring House, Pennsylvania
| | - Kevin J Lumb
- Lead Discovery & Profiling, Discovery Sciences, Janssen R&D LLC, Spring House, Pennsylvania
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Lak P, O'Donnell H, Du X, Jacobson MP, Shoichet BK. A Crowding Barrier to Protein Inhibition in Colloidal Aggregates. J Med Chem 2021; 64:4109-4116. [PMID: 33761256 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c02253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Small molecule colloidal aggregates adsorb and partially denature proteins, inhibiting them artifactually. Oddly, this inhibition is typically time-dependent. Two mechanisms might explain this: low concentrations of the colloid and enzyme might mean low encounter rates, or colloid-based protein denaturation might impose a kinetic barrier. These two mechanisms should have different concentration dependencies. Perplexingly, when enzyme concentration was increased, incubation times actually lengthened, inconsistent with both models and with classical chemical kinetics of solution species. We therefore considered molecular crowding, where colloids with lower protein surface density demand a shorter incubation time than more crowded colloids. To test this, we grew and shrank colloid surface area. As the surface area shrank, the incubation time lengthened, while as it increased, the converse was true. These observations support a crowding effect on protein binding to colloidal aggregates. Implications for drug delivery and for detecting aggregation-based inhibition will be discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Parnian Lak
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California 94143-2550, United States
| | - Henry O'Donnell
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California 94143-2550, United States
| | - Xuewen Du
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California 94143-2550, United States
| | - Matthew P Jacobson
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California 94143-2550, United States
| | - Brian K Shoichet
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, 1700 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California 94143-2550, United States
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Rosas-Jimenez JG, Garcia-Revilla MA, Madariaga-Mazon A, Martinez-Mayorga K. Predictive Global Models of Cruzain Inhibitors with Large Chemical Coverage. ACS OMEGA 2021; 6:6722-6735. [PMID: 33748586 PMCID: PMC7970485 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c05645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2020] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Chagas disease affects 8-11 million people worldwide, most of them living in Latin America. Moreover, migratory phenomena have spread the infection beyond endemic areas. Efforts for the development of new pharmacological therapies are paramount as the pharmacological profile of the two marketed drugs currently available, nifurtimox and benznidazole, needs to be improved. Cruzain, a parasitic cysteine protease, is one of the most attractive biological targets due to its roles in parasite survival and immune evasion. In this work, we compiled and curated a database of diverse cruzain inhibitors previously reported in the literature. From this data set, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models for the prediction of their pIC50 values were generated using k-nearest neighbors and random forest algorithms. Local and global models were calculated and compared. The statistical parameters for internal and external validation indicate a significant predictability, with q loo 2 values around 0.66 and 0.61 and external R 2 coefficients of 0.725 and 0.766. The applicability domain is quantitatively defined, according to QSAR good practices, using the leverage and similarity methods. The models described in this work are readily available in a Python script for the discovery of novel cruzain inhibitors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jose Guadalupe Rosas-Jimenez
- Division
de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad
de Guanajuato, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
- Instituto
de Quimica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma
de Mexico, Mexico
City 04510, Mexico
| | - Marco A. Garcia-Revilla
- Division
de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad
de Guanajuato, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
42
|
Screening and Identification of Metacaspase Inhibitors: Evaluation of Inhibition Mechanism and Trypanocidal Activity. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2021; 65:AAC.01330-20. [PMID: 33318019 DOI: 10.1128/aac.01330-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A common strategy to identify new antiparasitic agents is the targeting of proteases, due to their essential contributions to parasite growth and development. Metacaspases (MCAs) are cysteine proteases present in fungi, protozoa, and plants. These enzymes, which are associated with crucial cellular events in trypanosomes, are absent in the human host, thus arising as attractive drug targets. To find new MCA inhibitors with trypanocidal activity, we adapted a continuous fluorescence enzymatic assay to a medium-throughput format and carried out screening of different compound collections, followed by the construction of dose-response curves for the most promising hits. We used MCA5 from Trypanosoma brucei (TbMCA5) as a model for the identification of inhibitors from the GlaxoSmithKline HAT and CHAGAS chemical boxes. We also assessed a third collection of nine compounds from the Maybridge database that had been identified by virtual screening as potential inhibitors of the cysteine peptidase falcipain-2 (clan CA) from Plasmodium falciparum Compound HTS01959 (from the Maybridge collection) was the most potent inhibitor, with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 14.39 µM; it also inhibited other MCAs from T. brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi (TbMCA2, 4.14 µM; TbMCA3, 5.04 µM; TcMCA5, 151 µM). HTS01959 behaved as a reversible, slow-binding, and noncompetitive inhibitor of TbMCA2, with a mechanism of action that included redox components. Importantly, HTS01959 displayed trypanocidal activity against bloodstream forms of T. brucei and trypomastigote forms of T. cruzi, without cytotoxic effects on Vero cells. Thus, HTS01959 is a promising starting point to develop more specific and potent chemical structures to target MCAs.
Collapse
|
43
|
Stefan MA, Velazquez GM, Garcia GA. High-throughput screening to discover inhibitors of the CarD·RNA polymerase protein-protein interaction in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Sci Rep 2020; 10:21309. [PMID: 33277558 PMCID: PMC7718890 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78269-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 11/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) accounts for 3.7% of new cases of TB annually worldwide and is a major threat to global public health. Due to the prevalence of the MDR-TB and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) cases, there is an urgent need for new drugs with novel mechanisms of action. CarD, a global transcription regulator in MTB, binds RNAP and activates transcription by stabilizing the transcription initiation open-promoter complex (RPo). CarD is required for MTB viability and it has highly conserved homologues in many eubacteria. A fluorescence polarization (FP) assay which monitors the association of MTB RNAP, native rRNA promoter DNA and CarD has been developed. Overall, our objective is to identify and characterize small molecule inhibitors which block the CarD/RNAP interaction and to understand the mechanisms by which CarD interacts with the molecules. We expect that the development of a new and improved anti-TB compound with a novel mechanism of action will relieve the burden of resistance. This CarD FP assay is amenable to HTS and is an enabling tool for future novel therapeutic discovery.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maxwell A Stefan
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Glory M Velazquez
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - George A Garcia
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Yang ZY, Dong J, Yang ZJ, Yin M, Jiang HL, Lu AP, Chen X, Hou TJ, Cao DS. ChemFLuo: a web-server for structure analysis and identification of fluorescent compounds. Brief Bioinform 2020; 22:5985287. [PMID: 33201188 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbaa282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Revised: 09/12/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fluorescent detection methods are indispensable tools for chemical biology. However, the frequent appearance of potential fluorescent compound has greatly interfered with the recognition of compounds with genuine activity. Such fluorescence interference is especially difficult to identify as it is reproducible and possesses concentration-dependent characteristic. Therefore, the development of a credible screening tool to detect fluorescent compounds from chemical libraries is urgently needed in early stages of drug discovery. RESULTS In this study, we developed a webserver ChemFLuo for fluorescent compound detection, based on two large and high-quality training datasets containing 4906 blue and 8632 green fluorescent compounds. These molecules were used to construct a group of prediction models based on the combination of three machine learning algorithms and seven types of molecular representations. The best blue fluorescence prediction model achieved with balanced accuracy (BA) = 0.858 and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.931 for the validation set, and BA = 0.823 and AUC = 0.903 for the test set. The best green fluorescence prediction model achieved the prediction accuracy with BA = 0.810 and AUC = 0.887 for the validation set, and BA = 0.771 and AUC = 0.852 for the test set. Besides prediction model, 22 blue and 16 green representative fluorescent substructures were summarized for the screening of potential fluorescent compounds. The comparison with other fluorescence detection tools and theapplication to external validation sets and large molecule libraries have demonstrated the reliability of prediction model for fluorescent compound detection. CONCLUSION ChemFLuo is a public webserver to filter out compounds with undesirable fluorescent properties, which will benefit the design of high-quality chemical libraries for drug discovery. It is freely available at http://admet.scbdd.com/chemfluo/index/.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zi-Yi Yang
- Xiangya School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, 410003, P. R. China
| | - Jie Dong
- Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004, P.R. China
| | - Zhi-Jiang Yang
- Xiangya School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, 410003, P. R. China
| | - Mingzhu Yin
- Department of Dermatology, Hunan Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease, Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P.R. China
| | - Hong-Li Jiang
- Xiangya School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, 410003, P. R. China
| | - Ai-Ping Lu
- Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone and Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China
| | - Xiang Chen
- Department of Dermatology, Hunan Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease, Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P.R. China
| | - Ting-Jun Hou
- Institute of Innovative Medicine, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, P. R. China
| | - Dong-Sheng Cao
- Xiangya School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, 410003, P. R. China.,Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone and Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Exploring new targets and chemical space with affinity selection-mass spectrometry. Nat Rev Chem 2020; 5:62-71. [PMID: 37118102 DOI: 10.1038/s41570-020-00229-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Affinity selection-mass spectrometry (AS-MS) is a high-throughput screening (HTS) technique for drug discovery that enables rapid screening of large collections of compounds to identify ligands for a specific biomolecular target. AS-MS is a binding assay that is insensitive to the functional effects a ligand might have, which is important because it lets us identify novel ligands irrespective of their binding site. This approach is gaining popularity, notably due to its role in the emergence of useful agents for targeted protein degradation. This Perspective highlights the use of AS-MS techniques to explore broad chemical space and identify small-molecule ligands for biological targets that have proven challenging to address with other screening paradigms. We present chemical structures of reported AS-MS hits to illustrate the potential of this screening approach to deliver high-quality hits for further optimization. AS-MS has, thus, evolved from being an infrequent alternative to traditional HTS or DNA-encoded library strategies to now firmly establishing itself as a HTS approach for drug discovery.
Collapse
|
46
|
Ng S, Juang YC, Chandramohan A, Kaan HYK, Sadruddin A, Yuen TY, Ferrer-Gago FJ, Lee XC, Liew X, Johannes CW, Brown CJ, Kannan S, Aronica PG, Berglund NA, Verma CS, Liu L, Stoeck A, Sawyer TK, Partridge AW, Lane DP. De-risking Drug Discovery of Intracellular Targeting Peptides: Screening Strategies to Eliminate False-Positive Hits. ACS Med Chem Lett 2020; 11:1993-2001. [PMID: 33062184 DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.0c00022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Nonspecific promiscuous compounds can mislead researchers and waste significant resources. This phenomenon, though well-documented for small molecules, has not been widely explored for the peptide modality. Here we demonstrate that two purported peptide-based KRas inhibitors, SAH-SOS1 A and cyclorasin 9A5, exemplify false-positive molecules-in terms of both their binding affinities and cellular activities. Through multiple gold-standard biophysical techniques, we unambiguously show that both peptides lack specific binding to KRas and instead induce protein unfolding. Although these peptides inhibited cellular proliferation, the activities appeared to be off-target on the basis of a counterscreen with KRas-independent cell lines. We further demonstrate that their cellular activities are derived from membrane disruption. Accordingly, we propose that to de-risk false-positive molecules, orthogonal binding assays and cellular counterscreens are indispensable.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Tsz Ying Yuen
- Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, A*STAR, Singapore 138665
| | | | - Xue’Er Cheryl Lee
- Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, A*STAR, Singapore 138665
| | - Xi Liew
- Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, A*STAR, Singapore 138665
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Lijuan Liu
- Merck & Co., Inc., Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | | | - Tomi K. Sawyer
- Merck & Co., Inc., Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
47
|
Alves VM, Capuzzi SJ, Braga RC, Korn D, Hochuli JE, Bowler KH, Yasgar A, Rai G, Simeonov A, Muratov EN, Zakharov AV, Tropsha A. SCAM Detective: Accurate Predictor of Small, Colloidally Aggregating Molecules. J Chem Inf Model 2020; 60:4056-4063. [PMID: 32678597 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Small, colloidally aggregating molecules (SCAMs) are the most common source of false positives in high-throughput screening (HTS) campaigns. Although SCAMs can be experimentally detected and suppressed by the addition of detergent in the assay buffer, detergent sensitivity is not routinely monitored in HTS. Computational methods are thus needed to flag potential SCAMs during HTS triage. In this study, we have developed and rigorously validated quantitative structure-interference relationship (QSIR) models of detergent-sensitive aggregation in several HTS campaigns under various assay conditions and screening concentrations. In particular, we have modeled detergent-sensitive aggregation in an AmpC β-lactamase assay, the preferred HTS counter-screen for aggregation, as well as in another assay that measures cruzain inhibition. Our models increase the accuracy of aggregation prediction by ∼53% in the β-lactamase assay and by ∼46% in the cruzain assay compared to previously published methods. We also discuss the importance of both assay conditions and screening concentrations in the development of QSIR models for various interference mechanisms besides aggregation. The models developed in this study are publicly available for fast prediction within the SCAM detective web application (https://scamdetective.mml.unc.edu/).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vinicius M Alves
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Stephen J Capuzzi
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | | | - Daniel Korn
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Joshua E Hochuli
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Kyle H Bowler
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Adam Yasgar
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Ganesha Rai
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Anton Simeonov
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Eugene N Muratov
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States.,Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Paraíba 58059, Brazil
| | - Alexey V Zakharov
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States
| | - Alexander Tropsha
- Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Yang Y, Zheng S, Su S, Zhao C, Xu J, Chen H. SyntaLinker: automatic fragment linking with deep conditional transformer neural networks. Chem Sci 2020; 11:8312-8322. [PMID: 34123096 PMCID: PMC8163338 DOI: 10.1039/d0sc03126g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2020] [Accepted: 07/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Linking fragments to generate a focused compound library for a specific drug target is one of the challenges in fragment-based drug design (FBDD). Hereby, we propose a new program named SyntaLinker, which is based on a syntactic pattern recognition approach using deep conditional transformer neural networks. This state-of-the-art transformer can link molecular fragments automatically by learning from the knowledge of structures in medicinal chemistry databases (e.g. ChEMBL database). Conventionally, linking molecular fragments was viewed as connecting substructures that were predefined by empirical rules. In SyntaLinker, however, the rules of linking fragments can be learned implicitly from known chemical structures by recognizing syntactic patterns embedded in SMILES notations. With deep conditional transformer neural networks, SyntaLinker can generate molecular structures based on a given pair of fragments and additional restrictions. Case studies have demonstrated the advantages and usefulness of SyntaLinker in FBDD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuyao Yang
- Research Center for Drug Discovery, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Circle at University City Guangzhou 510006 China
- Center of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory Guangzhou 510530 China
| | - Shuangjia Zheng
- Research Center for Drug Discovery, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Circle at University City Guangzhou 510006 China
| | - Shimin Su
- Research Center for Drug Discovery, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Circle at University City Guangzhou 510006 China
- Center of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory Guangzhou 510530 China
| | - Chao Zhao
- Research Center for Drug Discovery, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Circle at University City Guangzhou 510006 China
| | - Jun Xu
- Research Center for Drug Discovery, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Circle at University City Guangzhou 510006 China
| | - Hongming Chen
- Center of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory Guangzhou 510530 China
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew D. Lloyd
- Drug & Target Development, Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, U.K
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Spiegel JO, Durrant JD. AutoGrow4: an open-source genetic algorithm for de novo drug design and lead optimization. J Cheminform 2020; 12:25. [PMID: 33431021 PMCID: PMC7165399 DOI: 10.1186/s13321-020-00429-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
We here present AutoGrow4, an open-source program for semi-automated computer-aided drug discovery. AutoGrow4 uses a genetic algorithm to evolve predicted ligands on demand and so is not limited to a virtual library of pre-enumerated compounds. It is a useful tool for generating entirely novel drug-like molecules and for optimizing preexisting ligands. By leveraging recent computational and cheminformatics advancements, AutoGrow4 is faster, more stable, and more modular than previous versions. It implements new docking-program compatibility, chemical filters, multithreading options, and selection methods to support a wide range of user needs. To illustrate both de novo design and lead optimization, we here apply AutoGrow4 to the catalytic domain of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1), a well characterized DNA-damage-recognition protein. AutoGrow4 produces drug-like compounds with better predicted binding affinities than FDA-approved PARP-1 inhibitors (positive controls). The predicted binding modes of the AutoGrow4 compounds mimic those of the known inhibitors, even when AutoGrow4 is seeded with random small molecules. AutoGrow4 is available under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0. A copy can be downloaded free of charge from http://durrantlab.com/autogrow4.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jacob O. Spiegel
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Jacob D. Durrant
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| |
Collapse
|