Tumor-Cell-Specific Targeting of Ibrutinib: Introducing Electrostatic Antibody-Inhibitor Conjugates (AiCs)

Ibrutinib is an inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase that has been approved for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma and Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia and is connected with toxicities. To minimize its toxicities, we linked ibrutinib to a cell-targeted, internalizing antibody. To this end, we synthesized a poly-anionic derivate, ibrutinib-Cy3.5, that retains full functionality. This anionic inhibitor is complexed by our anti-CD20-protamine targeting conjugate and free protamine, and thereby spontaneously assembles into an electrostatically stabilized vesicular nanocarrier. The complexation led to an accumulation of the drug driven by the CD20 antigen internalization to the intended cells and an amplification of its pharmacological effectivity. In vivo, we observed a significant enrichment of the drug in xenograft lymphoma tumors in immune-compromised mice and a significantly better response to lower doses compared to the original drug.     

Evolved,Selective Erasers of Distinct Lysine Acylations

Lysine acylations, a family of diverse protein modifications varying in acyl‐group length, charge, and saturation, are linked to many important physiological processes. Only a small set of substrate‐promiscuous lysine acetyltransferases and deacetylases (KDACs) install and remove this vast variety of modifications. Engineered KDACs that remove only one type of acylation would help to dissect the different contributions of distinct acylations. We developed a bacterial selection system for the directed evolution of KDACs and identified variants up to 400 times more selective for butyryl‐lysine compared to crotonyl‐lysine. Structural analyses revealed that the enzyme adopts different conformational states depending on the type of acylation of the bound peptide. We used the butyryl‐selective KDAC variant to shift the cellular acylation spectrum towards increased lysine crotonylation. These new enzymes will help in dissecting the roles of different lysine acylations in cell physiology.