Download MendeleyDe Novo Discovery of Thiopeptide Pseudo-natural Products Acting as Potent and Selective TNIK Kinase Inhibitors.
Vinogradov, A.A., Zhang, Y., Hamada, K., Chang, J.S., Okada, C., Nishimura, H., Terasaka, N., Goto, Y., Ogata, K., Sengoku, T., Onaka, H., Suga, H.(2022) J Am Chem Soc 144: 20332-20341
- PubMed: 36282922
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c07937
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
7XZQ, 7XZR - PubMed Abstract:
Bioengineering of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) is an emerging approach to explore the diversity of pseudo-natural product structures for drug discovery purposes. However, despite the initial advances in this area, bioactivity reprogramming of multienzyme RiPP biosynthetic pathways remains a major challenge. Here, we report a platform for de novo discovery of functional thiopeptides based on reengineered biosynthesis of lactazole A, a RiPP natural product assembled by five biosynthetic enzymes. The platform combines in vitro biosynthesis of lactazole-like thiopeptides and mRNA display to prepare and screen large (≥10 12 ) combinatorial libraries of pseudo-natural products. We demonstrate the utility of the developed protocols in an affinity selection against Traf2- and NCK-interacting kinase (TNIK), a protein involved in several cancers, which yielded a plethora of candidate thiopeptides. Of the 11 synthesized compounds, 9 had high affinities for the target kinase (best K D = 1.2 nM) and 10 inhibited its enzymatic activity (best K i = 3 nM). X-ray structural analysis of the TNIK/thiopeptide interaction revealed the unique mode of substrate-competitive inhibition exhibited by two of the discovered compounds. The thiopeptides internalized to the cytosol of HEK293H cells as efficiently as the known cell-penetrating peptide Tat (4-6 μM). Accordingly, the most potent compound, TP15, inhibited TNIK in HCT116 cells. Altogether, our platform enables the exploration of pseudo-natural thiopeptides with favorable pharmacological properties in drug discovery applications.
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
