A mechanism-based cross-linker for the identification of kinase-substrate pairs

The reversible phosphorylation of proteins is one of the most important mechanisms for the regulation of signal transduction cascades. Recently, there has been substantial progress made in the identification of new phosphoproteins and phosphorylation sites. Unfortunately, there are very few methods available that allow this information to be used to identify the upstream kinase responsible for the phosphorylation event. Herein, we describe a new method that allows the cross-linking of a substrate of interest to its upstream kinase. This method relies upon a novel, mechanism-based cross-linker and the replacement of the phosphorylated residue with a cysteine residue. The application of this method to a number of kinase-peptide substrate pairs is described.     

A mechanism-based fluorescence transfer assay for examining ketosynthase selectivity

Since their discovery, polyketide synthases have received massive attention from researchers hoping to harness their potential as a platform for generating new and improved therapeutics. Despite significant strides toward this end, inherent specificities within the enzymes responsible for polyketide production have severely limited these efforts. We have developed a mechanism-based, fluorescence transfer assay for a key enzyme component of all polyketide synthases, the ketosynthase domain. As demonstrated, this method can be used with both ketosynthase-containing didomains and full modules. As proof of principle, the ketosynthase domain from module 6 of the 6-deoxyerythronolide synthase is examined for its ability to accept a variety of simple thioester substrates. Consistent with its natural hexaketide substrate, we find that this ketosynthase prefers longer, α-branched thioesters and its ability to distinguish these structural features is quite remarkable. Substrate electronics are also tested via a variety of p-substituted aromatic groups. In all, we expect this technique to find considerable use in the field of polyketide biosynthesis and engineering due to its extraordinary simplicity and very distinct visible readout.     

A novel microfluidics-based method for probing weak protein-protein interactions

We report the use of a novel microfluidics-based method to detect weak protein-protein interactions between membrane proteins. The tight junction protein, claudin-2, synthesised in vitro using a cell-free expression system in the presence of polymer vesicles as membrane scaffolds, was used as a model membrane protein. Individual claudin-2 molecules interact weakly, although the cumulative effect of these interactions is significant. This effect results in a transient decrease of average vesicle dispersivity and reduction in transport speed of claudin-2-functionalised vesicles. Polymer vesicles functionalised with claudin-2 were perfused through a microfluidic channel and the time taken to traverse a defined distance within the channel was measured. Functionalised vesicles took 1.19 to 1.69 times longer to traverse this distance than unfunctionalised ones. Coating the channel walls with protein A and incubating the vesicles with anti-claudin-2 antibodies prior to perfusion resulted in the functionalised vesicles taking 1.75 to 2.5 times longer to traverse this distance compared to the controls. The data show that our system is able to detect weak as well as strong protein-protein interactions. This system offers researchers a portable, easily operated and customizable platform for the study of weak protein-protein interactions, particularly between membrane proteins.     

A structure-based design approach for the identification of novel inhibitors: application to an alanine racemase

We report a new structure-based strategy for the identification of novel inhibitors. This approach has been applied to Bacillus stearothermophilus alanine racemase (AlaR), an enzyme implicated in the biosynthesis of the bacterial cell wall. The enzyme catalyzes the racemization of l- and d-alanine using pyridoxal 5-phosphate (PLP) as a cofactor. The restriction of AlaR to bacteria and some fungi and the absolute requirement for d-alanine in peptidoglycan biosynthesis make alanine racemase a suitable target for drug design. Unfortunately, known inhibitors of alanine racemase are not specific and inhibit the activity of other PLP-dependent enzymes, leading to neurological and other side effects.This article describes the development of a receptor-based pharmacophore model for AlaR, taking into account receptor flexibility (i.e. a `dynamic' pharmacophore model). In order to accomplish this, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed on the full AlaR dimer from Bacillus stearothermophilus (PDB entry, 1sft) with a d-alanine molecule in one active site and the non-covalent inhibitor, propionate, in the second active site of this homodimer. The basic strategy followed in this study was to utilize conformations of the protein obtained during MD simulations to generate a dynamic pharmacophore model using the property mapping capability of the LigBuilder program. Compounds from the Available Chemicals Directory that fit the pharmacophore model were identified and have been submitted for experimental testing.The approach described here can be used as a valuable tool for the design of novel inhibitors of other biomolecular targets.     

A fluorescence polarization based screening assay for identification of small molecule inhibitors of the PICK1 PDZ domain

PDZ (PSD-95/Discs-large/ZO-1 homology) domains represent putative targets in several diseases including cancer, stroke, addiction and neuropathic pain. Here we describe the application of a simple and fast screening assay based on fluorescence polarization (FP) to identify inhibitors of the PDZ domain in PICK1 (protein interacting with C kinase 1). We screened 43,380 compounds for their ability to inhibit binding of an Oregon Green labeled C-terminal dopamine transporter peptide (OrG-DAT C13) to purified PICK1 in solution. The assay was highly reliable with excellent screening assay parameters (Z'≈0.7 and Z≈0.6). Out of ~200 compounds that reduced FP to less than 80% of the control wells, six compounds were further characterized. The apparent affinities of the compounds were determined in FP competition binding experiments and ranged from ~5.0 μM to ~193 μM. Binding to the PICK1 PDZ domain was confirmed for five of the compounds (CSC-03, CSC-04, CSC-43, FSC-231 and FSC-240) in a non-fluorescence based assay by their ability to inhibit pull-down of PICK1 by a C-terminal DAT GST fusion protein. CSC-03 displayed the highest apparent affinity (5.0 μM) in the FP assay, and was according to fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments capable of inhibiting the interaction between the C-terminus of the GluR2 subunit of the AMPA-type glutamate receptor and PICK1 in live cells. Additional experiments suggested that CSC-03 most likely is an irreversible inhibitor but with specificity for PICK1 since it did not bind three different PDZ domains of PSD-95. Summarized, our data suggest that FP based screening assays might be a widely applicable tool in the search for small molecule inhibitors of PDZ domain interactions.     

Synthesis and testing of 2-deoxy-2,2-dihaloglycosides as mechanism-based inhibitors of alpha-glycosidases

The synthesis of a series of 2-deoxy-2,2-dihaloglycosyl halides as potential alpha-glycosidase inactivators has been achieved via the halogenation of protected 2-fluoroglycal precursors. Direct chlorination of per-O-acetylated 2-fluoro-d-glucal and 2-fluoromaltal followed by basic deprotection yielded the corresponding 2-chloro-2-deoxy-2-fluoroglycosyl chlorides. Reaction of the per-O-acetylated 2-fluoroglycals with acetyl hypofluorite or Selectfluor yielded the 2-deoxy-2,2-difluoroglycosyl derivatives, which were converted to their alpha-chlorides using thionyl chloride and deprotected under basic conditions. Trinitrophenyl glycosides of the 2-deoxy-2,2-difluoro mono- and disaccharides were synthesized by arylation of the hemiacetals with picryl fluoride, then deprotected with HCl in methanol. All three monosaccharide derivatives caused active site-directed, time-dependent inactivation of yeast alpha-glucosidase via the trapping of covalent glycosyl-enzyme intermediates, and kinetic parameters for inactivation by each compound were determined. Surprisingly neither of the 2-deoxy-2,2-dihalomaltosyl chlorides caused time-dependent inactivation of human pancreatic alpha-amylase, despite the fact that the trinitrophenyl 2-deoxy-2,2-difluoromaltoside functioned in that mode. The trinitrophenyl glycosides appear to be approximately 1000-fold more reactive than the corresponding chlorides in the enzyme active sites.     

Receptor-based virtual ligand screening for the identification of novel CDC25 phosphatase inhibitors

CDC25 phosphatases play critical roles in cell cycle regulation and are attractive targets for anticancer therapies. Several small non-peptide molecules are known to inhibit CDC25, but many of them appear to form a covalent bond with the enzyme or act through oxidation of the thiolate group of the catalytic cysteine. Structure-based virtual ligand screening computations were performed with FRED, Surflex, and LigandFit, a compound collection of over 310,000 druglike molecules and the crystal structure of CDC25B in order to identify novel classes of ligands. In vitro experiments carried out on a selected list of 1500 molecules led to the discovery of 99 compounds able to inhibit CDC25B activity at 100 microM. Further docking computations were applied, allowing us to propose a binding mode for the most potent molecule (IC50 = 13 microM). Our best compounds represent promising new classes of CDC25 inhibitors that also exhibit antiproliferative properties.     

A novel 3D mammalian cell perfusion-culture system in microfluidic channels

Mammalian cells cultured on 2D surfaces in microfluidic channels are increasingly used in drug development and biological research applications. These systems would have more biological or clinical relevance if the cells exhibit 3D phenotypes similar to the cells in vivo. We have developed a microfluidic channel based system that allows cells to be perfusion-cultured in 3D by supporting them with adequate 3D cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. The maximal cell-cell interaction was achieved by perfusion-seeding cells through an array of micropillars; and 3D cell-matrix interactions were achieved by a polyelectrolyte complex coacervation process to form a thin layer of matrix conforming to the 3D cell shapes. Carcinoma cell lines (HepG2, MCF7), primary differentiated (hepatocytes) and primary progenitor cells (bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells) were perfusion-cultured for 72 hours to 1 week in the microfluidic channel, which preserved their 3D cyto-architecture and cell-specific functions or differentiation competence. This transparent 3D microfluidic channel-based cell culture system also allows direct optical monitoring of cellular events for a wide range of applications.     

Protein microarray assay for the screening of SH3 domain interactions

Analysis of cellular signal transduction processes increasingly focuses on the systematic characterization of complete protein interaction networks. Understanding the interplay of signaling components enables insight into the molecular basis of diverse diseases such as cancer. This paves the way for the rational design of specific therapeutics. Protein interactions are often mediated by conserved modular domains, e.g., SH3-domains, which recognize proline-rich sequences in their cognate ligands. In the course of this study, different microarray formats (reactive silane monolayers and nitrocellulose on glass slides) and assay work flows were evaluated to develop a microarray based screening assay that permits the reliable identification of interactions between certain target proteins with a set of SH3 domains. Nine representative SH3 domains which were produced and purified as GST-fusion proteins were spotted on the microarray substrates and probed with two well-characterized ligands, the Nef protein from HIV-1 and the human protein Sam68. The best results from these low-density model arrays were obtained with nitrocellulose slides. We show that a straightforward and highly robust detection of ligand binding is achieved by staining with a fluorescently labeled antibody directed against the N-terminal His-tag attached to these proteins. The optimized assay protocol reported here allows for the identification of SH3-interactions with high reproducibility and adequate signal-to-background and signal-to-noise ratios, as well as the quantitative determination of relative binding affinities.     

Gold nanoparticle-based competitive colorimetric assay for detection of protein-protein interactions

A gold nanoparticle-based competitive colorimetric assay uses the ensemble of Concanavalin (ConA) and mannopyranoside-encapsulated gold nanoparticles (Man-GNPs) to identify the binding partners for ConA and the binding constants are determined based on the wavelength shifts.     

A novel fluorescence probe for cilnidipine assay

A general route for preparation of dye-encapsulated polymer particles via an emulsion polymerization process has been described. 1-Naphthaleneboronic acid (NBA) was encapsulated, the resultant particles were used as a fluorescence probe for cilnidipine assay based on fluorescence quenching. The sensitivity of NBA-encapsulated probe to cilnidipine was largely improved in comparison with that of free NBA. The probe showed a linear response toward cilnidipine over the concentration range of 2.0 × 10⁻⁷ to 1.1 × 10⁻⁵ mol l⁻¹, with high sensitivity, fast response time, and good selectivity.     

A novel method for screening the glutathione transferase inhibitors

Background  

Glutathione transferases (GSTs) belong to the family of Phase II detoxification enzymes. GSTs catalyze the conjugation of glutathione to different endogenous and exogenous electrophilic compounds. Over-expression of GSTs was demonstrated in a number of different human cancer cells. It has been found that the resistance to many anticancer chemotherapeutics is directly correlated with the over-expression of GSTs. Therefore, it appears to be important to find new GST inhibitors to prevent the resistance of cells to anticancer drugs. In order to search for glutathione transferase (GST) inhibitors, a novel method was designed.     

A novel chip-based parallel transfection assay to evaluate paracrine cell interactions

The speed of gene function analyses in mammalian cells was significantly increased by the introduction of cell chip technology (reversely transfected cell microarray). However, the presently available technique is restricted to the analysis of autocrine effects of genes in the transfected cells. This limits the power of this method, as many genes are involved in heterotypic signaling both in physiologic and pathologic processes. At present, analyses of paracrine effects of transfected genes require trans-well or conditioned media approaches which are costly and time-consuming. Here, we present a novel method for the highly parallel analysis of paracrine gene functions on a chip. The basic idea was to adapt the cell chip technology to be performed with two different cell types which are differentially transfected: (1) an effector cell which is transfected with the genes of interest, and (2) an indicator cell in order to detect specific paracrine effects exerted from the transfected effector cells. Spot-to-spot diffusion of the paracrine mediators was prevented by matrix overlay, ultimately allowing 192 parallel tests for paracrine gene activations on one chip. In addition, we demonstrate the broad applicability and robustness of this technique using (1) various responder cell types, (2) various paracrine inducers, and (3) various indicator genes. The herein described approach allows for the first time a highly parallel analysis of paracrine gene functions and thus facilitates the characterization of genes involved in heterotypic cell communication in a broad range of research areas.     

Consensus model for identification of novel PI3K inhibitors in large chemical library

Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) inhibitors have treatment potential for cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation and asthma. A consensus model consisting of three base classifiers (AODE, kNN, and SVM) trained with 1,283 positive compounds (PI3K inhibitors), 16 negative compounds (PI3K non-inhibitors) and 64,078 generated putative negatives was developed for predicting compounds with PI3K inhibitory activity of IC₅₀ ≤ 10 μM. The consensus model has an estimated false positive rate of 0.75%. Nine novel potential inhibitors were identified using the consensus model and several of these contain structural features that are consistent with those found to be important for PI3K inhibitory activities. An advantage of the current model is that it does not require knowledge of 3D structural information of the various PI3K isoforms, which is not readily available for all isoforms.     

Cyclic peptidyl inhibitors of Grb2 and tensin SH2 domains identified from combinatorial libraries

Cyclic peptides provide attractive lead compounds for drug discovery and excellent molecular probes in biomedical research. In this work, a novel method has been developed for the high-throughput synthesis, screening, and identification of cyclic peptidyl ligands against macromolecular targets. Support-bound cyclic phosphotyrosyl peptide libraries containing randomized amino acid sequences and different ring sizes (theoretical diversity of 3.2 x 10(6)) were synthesized and screened against the SH2 domains of Grb2 and tensin. Potent, selective inhibitors were identified from the libraries and were generally more effective than the corresponding linear peptides. One of the inhibitors selected against the Grb2 SH2 domain inhibited human breast cancer cell growth and disrupted actin filaments. This method should be applicable to the development of cyclic peptidyl inhibitors against other protein domains, enzymes, and receptors.     

Gold nanoparticle-based surface enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopic assay for the detection of protein-protein interactions

In the present work, a sensitive spectroscopic assay based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) using gold nanoparticles as substrates was developed for the rapid detection protein-protein interactions. Detection is achieved by specific binding biotin-modification antibodies with protein-stabilized 30 nm gold nanoparticles, followed by the attachment of avidin-modification Raman-active dyes. As a proof-of-principle experiment, a well-known biomolecular recognition system, IgG with protein A, was chosen to establish this new spectroscopic assay. Highly selective recognition of IgG down to 1 ng/ml in solution has been demonstrated.     

Ensemble pharmacophore meets ensemble docking: a novel screening strategy for the identification of RIPK1 inhibitors

Programmed cell death has been a fascinating area of research since it throws new challenges and questions in spite of the tremendous ongoing research in this field. Recently, necroptosis, a programmed form of necrotic cell death, has been implicated in many diseases including neurological disorders. Receptor interacting serine/threonine protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) is an important regulatory protein involved in the necroptosis and inhibition of this protein is essential to stop necroptotic process and eventually cell death. Current structure-based virtual screening methods involve a wide range of strategies and recently, considering the multiple protein structures for pharmacophore extraction has been emphasized as a way to improve the outcome. However, using the pharmacophoric information completely during docking is very important. Further, in such methods, using the appropriate protein structures for docking is desirable. If not, potential compound hits, obtained through pharmacophore-based screening, may not have correct ranks and scores after docking. Therefore, a comprehensive integration of different ensemble methods is essential, which may provide better virtual screening results. In this study, dual ensemble screening, a novel computational strategy was used to identify diverse and potent inhibitors against RIPK1. All the pharmacophore features present in the binding site were captured using both the apo and holo protein structures and an ensemble pharmacophore was built by combining these features. This ensemble pharmacophore was employed in pharmacophore-based screening of ZINC database. The compound hits, thus obtained, were subjected to ensemble docking. The leads acquired through docking were further validated through feature evaluation and molecular dynamics simulation.     

HIF2 ODD-luciferase reporter: the most sensitive assay for HIF prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors

Russian Chemical Bulletin - Reporters expressing fusion proteins of HIF2 and HIF3 C-terminal oxygen degradable domain (ODD) with the firefly luciferase, HIF2 ODD-luc and HIF3 ODD-luc, were...     

A novel dot-blot DNAzyme-linked aptamer assay for protein detection

In this work, a novel dot-blot DNAzyme-linked aptamer assay (DLAA) for protein detection is developed with thrombin as a model protein. A peroxidase-like DNAzyme which serves as the catalytic label is tethered to a 15-mer thrombin-binding aptamer to form a label-free DNAzyme-linked aptamer probe. Based on specific interaction of the aptamer with target protein immobilized on nitrocellulose membrane, a DNAzyme layer is introduced onto the membrane. The DNAzyme can catalyze the H₂O₂-mediated oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine to produce a colored insoluble product that is apt to be adsorbed onto the nitrocellulose membrane. As a result, blue dots appear on the membrane, in contrast to the colorless background. As the concentration of thrombin increases, the color of dots gets deep. Such a protein concentration-dependent color change can be quantified via an image-processing software, with a detection limit of 0.6 μM. Furthermore, this assay has been applied successfully to the detection of thrombin in biological samples (e.g., human serum), indicating its practicality for bioanalysis.