scholarly journals Designing HDAC-PROTACs: lessons learned so far

Author(s):  
Fabian Fischer ◽  
Leandro A Alves Avelar ◽  
Laoise Murray ◽  
Thomas Kurz

Proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) are a powerful tool to hijack the endogenous ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and to degrade the intracellular proteins of therapeutic importance. Recently, two heterobifunctional degraders targeting hormone receptors headed into Phase II clinical trials. Compared to traditional drug design and common modes of action, the PROTAC approach offers new opportunities for the drug research field. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are well-established drugs for the treatment of hematological malignancies. The integration of HDAC binding motifs in PROTACs explores the possibility of targeted, chemical HDAC degradation. This review provides an overview and a perspective about the key steps in the structure development of HDAC–PROTACs. In particular, the influence of the three canonical PROTAC elements on HDAC–PROTAC efficacy and selectivity are discussed, the HDACi, the linker and the E3 ligase ligand.

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1929
Author(s):  
Eva M. Huber ◽  
Michael Groll

At the heart of the ubiquitin–proteasome system, the 20S proteasome core particle (CP) breaks down the majority of intracellular proteins tagged for destruction. Thereby, the CP controls many cellular processes including cell cycle progression and cell signalling. Inhibitors of the CP can suppress these essential biological pathways, resulting in cytotoxicity, an effect that is beneficial for the treatment of certain blood cancer patients. During the last decade, several preclinical studies demonstrated that selective inhibition of the immunoproteasome (iCP), one of several CP variants in mammals, suppresses autoimmune diseases without inducing toxic side effects. These promising findings led to the identification of natural and synthetic iCP inhibitors with distinct chemical structures, varying potency and subunit selectivity. This review presents the most prominent iCP inhibitors with respect to possible scientific and medicinal applications, and discloses recent trends towards pan-immunoproteasome reactive inhibitors that cumulated in phase II clinical trials of the lead compound KZR-616 for chronic inflammations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C306-C306
Author(s):  
Juliana Muñoz-Escobar ◽  
Guennadi Kozlov ◽  
Jean-François Trempe ◽  
Kalle Gehring

The degradation of many short-lived proteins in eukaryotic cells is carried out by the Ubiquitin Proteasome System. The N-end rule pathway links the half-life of proteins to the identity of its N-terminal residue, also called N-degron. Destabilizing N-degrons, are recognized by E3 ubiquitin ligases termed N-recognins. N-degrons are grouped into type 1, composed of basic residues, and type 2, composed of bulky hydrophobic residues. In mammals, four N-recognins mediate the N-end rule pathway: UBR1, UBR2, UBR4 and UBR5. These proteins share a ~70-residue zinc finger-like motif termed the Ubiquitin Recognin (UBR) box, responsible for their specificity. The mammalian genome encodes at least three more UBR-box proteins: UBR3, UBR6/FBXO11 and UBR7. However, these UBRs cannot recognize any type of N-degrons. Our lab reported the crystal structures of the UBR boxes from the human UBR1 and UBR2, rationalizing the empirical rules for the classification of type 1 N-degrons. Despite the valuable information obtained from those structures there is not a clear explanation for the no recognition of N-degrons by other UBR-box proteins. Here we report the crystal structure of the UBR-box domain from UBR6 also known as FBXO11. UBR6 is a F-box protein of the SKP1-Cullin1-F-box (SCF) ubiquitin ligase complex and does not recognize any type of N-degrons. We crystallized a 77-residue fragment of the UBR-box of UBR6 and determined its structure at 1.7 Å resolution. Unexpectedly, this domain adopts an open conformation compared to UBR1-box, without any N-degron binding pockets. Its zinc-binding residues are conserved as in the N-recognins, but they are arranged in different zinc-binding motifs. Molecules form dimmers stabilized by zinc ions. The crystal had 4 molecules per asymmetric unit and space group P212121. For phasing we used Zn-SAD. With this structure we hope to obtain clues that explain the absence of N-degron recognition in some members of the UBR family.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda B Abildgaard ◽  
Søren D Petersen ◽  
Fia B Larsen ◽  
Caroline Kampmeyer ◽  
Kristoffer E Johansson ◽  
...  

Protein quality control (PQC) degrons are short protein segments that target misfolded proteins for degradation through the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). To uncover how PQC degrons function, we performed a screen in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by fusing a library of flexible tetrapeptides to the C-terminus of the Ura3-HA-GFP reporter. The identified degrons exhibited high sequence variation but with marked hydrophobicity. Notably, the best scoring degrons constitute predicted Hsp70-binding motifs. When directly tested, a canonical Hsp70 binding motif (RLLL) functioned as a dose-dependent PQC degron that was targeted by Hsp70, Hsp110, Fes1, several Hsp40 J-domain co-chaperones and the PQC E3 ligase Ubr1. Our results suggest that multiple PQC degrons overlap with chaperone-binding sites and that PQC-linked degradation achieves specificity via chaperone binding. Thus, the PQC system has evolved to exploit the intrinsic capacity of chaperones to recognize misfolded proteins, thereby placing them at the nexus of protein folding and degradation.


2005 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didier Attaix ◽  
Sophie Ventadour ◽  
Audrey Codran ◽  
Daniel Béchet ◽  
Daniel Taillandier ◽  
...  

The ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) is believed to degrade the major contractile skeletal muscle proteins and plays a major role in muscle wasting. Different and multiple events in the ubiquitination, deubiquitination and proteolytic machineries are responsible for the activation of the system and subsequent muscle wasting. However, other proteolytic enzymes act upstream (possibly m-calpain, cathepsin L, and/or caspase 3) and downstream (tripeptidyl-peptidase II and aminopeptidases) of the UPS, for the complete breakdown of the myofibrillar proteins into free amino acids. Recent studies have identified a few critical proteins that seem necessary for muscle wasting {i.e. the MAFbx (muscle atrophy F-box protein, also called atrogin-1) and MuRF-1 [muscle-specific RING (really interesting new gene) finger 1] ubiquitin–protein ligases}. The characterization of their signalling pathways is leading to new pharmacological approaches that can be useful to block or partially prevent muscle wasting in human patients.


2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didier Attaix ◽  
Sophie Ventadour ◽  
Audrey Codran ◽  
Daniel Béchet ◽  
Daniel Taillandier ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Uranga ◽  
Lukas Hasecke ◽  
Jonny Proppe ◽  
Jan Fingerhut ◽  
Ricardo A. Mata

The 20S Proteasome is a macromolecule responsible for the chemical step in the ubiquitin-proteasome system of degrading unnecessary and unused proteins of the cell. It plays a central role both in the rapid growth of cancer cells as well as in viral infection cycles. Herein, we present a computational study of the acid-base equilibria in an active site of the human proteasome, an aspect which is often neglected despite the crucial role protons play in the catalysis. As example substrates, we take the inhibition by epoxy and boronic acid containing warheads. We have combined cluster quantum mechanical calculations, replica exchange molecular dynamics and Bayesian optimization of non-bonded potential terms in the inhibitors. In relation to the latter, we propose an easily scalable approach to the reevaluation of non-bonded potentials making use of QM/MM dynamics information. Our results show that coupled acid-base equilibria need to be considered when modeling the inhibition mechanism. The coupling between a neighboring lysine and the reacting threonine is not affected by the presence of the inhibitor.


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