Target modulation and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics translation of the BTK inhibitor poseltinib for model-informed phase II dose selection

The selective Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor poseltinib has been shown to inhibit the BCR signal transduction pathway and cytokine production in B cells (Park et al.Arthritis Res. Ther.18, 91, 10.1186/s13075-016-0988-z, 2016). This study describes the translation of nonclinical research studies to a phase I clinical trial in healthy volunteers in which pharmacokinetics (PKs) and pharmacodynamics (PDs) were evaluated for dose determination. The BTK protein kinase inhibitory effects of poseltinib in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and in rats with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) were evaluated. High-dimensional phosphorylation analysis was conducted on human immune cells such as B cells, CD8 + memory cells, CD4 + memory cells, NK cells, neutrophils, and monocytes, to map the impact of poseltinib on BTK/PLC and AKT signaling pathways. PK and PD profiles were evaluated in a first-in-human study in healthy donors, and a PK/PD model was established based on BTK occupancy. Poseltinib bound to the BTK protein and modulated BTK phosphorylation in human PBMCs. High-dimensional phosphorylation analysis of 94 nodes showed that poseltinib had the highest impact on anti-IgM + CD40L stimulated B cells, however, lower impacts on anti-CD3/CD-28 stimulated T cells, IL-2 stimulated CD4 + T cells and NK cells, M-CSF stimulated monocytes, or LPS-induced granulocytes. In anti-IgM + CD40L stimulated B cells, poseltinib inhibited the phosphorylation of BTK, AKT, and PLCγ2. Moreover, poseltinib dose dependently improved arthritis disease severity in CIA rat model. In a clinical phase I trial for healthy volunteers, poseltinib exhibited dose-dependent and persistent BTK occupancy in PBMCs of all poseltinib-administrated patients in the study. More than 80% of BTK occupancy at 40 mg dosing was maintained for up to 48 h after the first dose. A first-in-human healthy volunteer study of poseltinib established target engagement with circulating BTK protein. Desirable PK and PD properties were observed, and a modeling approach was used for rational dose selection for subsequent trials. Poseltinib was confirmed as a potential BTK inhibitor for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.Trial registration: This article includes the results of a clinical intervention on human participants [NCT01765478].

Abstract 17411: De Novo Protein Synthesis of Alpha-Toxin Activated Platelets

Introduction: Endovascular infections with bacteria are often devastating with subsequent high morbidity and mortality. Exo- and or endotoxins of bacteria can activate endothelial cells, leukocytes and platelets. Platelets are first line defence they accumulate at sites of vascular injury or infection. Platelet activation is a necessary step in thrombus formation. Nevertheless, stimulation of platelets will result in de novo protein synthesis despite missing nucleus since platelets armed with translational equipment. Methods: In the present study we determined the effect of staphylococcus aureus α-toxin on platelet activation and de novo protein synthesis analysed with 2-D gels, proteomics and phosphorylation analysis. Results: α-toxin induced platelet activation resulted in modulation of de novo protein synthesis of DJ-1 Protein, ras suppressor protein1, PLEK protein, fumaryl aceto acetase sowie das coronin actin binding protein. This synthesis was time- and concentration-dependent and was markedly increased when platelets adhered to collagen or fibrinogen and required ligation of α IIb β 3 . Accumulation of protein synthesis in platelets was blocked by global translational inhibitors and attenuated by inhibitors that regulate signalling through the mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR). In addition with phosphorylation analysis we were able demonstrate modulation of threonine phosphorylation of fumaryl aceto acetase, phosphor threonin signal of coronin actin binding protein, phosphorylation of peroxiredoxin-6, phosphorylation of tropomyosin-2, phosphothreonin signal of H + transporting two sector ATPase upon α-toxin stimulation. Conclusion: Interactions with staphylococcus aureus α-toxin and platelets might lead to their activation and de novo protein synthesis. These results suggest that platelets have an important role in inflammation besides their aggregating duties in inflammatory disease.

Phosphorylation Analysis of the starch synthase IV-Arabidopsis thaliana SSIV-CR region

Starch synthase (SSIV) plays a specific role in starch synthesis. Previous evidence in our laboratory has shown that SSIV forms dimers, which depends on a region located between the extended coiled-coil region and the glucosyltransferase domain of SSIV. This region is highly conserved between all SSIV enzymes sequenced to date. In this work, we have analyzed the potential phosphorylation of two amino acid residues of the protein (tyrosine 515 and serine 459) and its possible role in the dimerization and activity of SSIV. We have obtained mutated versions of the AtSSIV polypeptide where the amino acid Tyr 515 has been changed to Phe or Glu residue and Ser 459 has been changed to Ala or Asp. We show that the phosphorylation of the Tyr 515 would prevent the formation of a dimer and hence the interaction with FBN1b and suggest that the change of the Tyr 515 residue by a Phe does not affect to the formation of a dimer but reduces the enzymatic activity of the protein considerably. A similar decrease was observed when the amino acid was changed to a Glu residue, suggesting that Tyr 515 residue is necessary for the AtSSIV activity.

CoPhosK: A Method for Comprehensive Kinase Substrate Annotation Using Co-phosphorylation Analysis

We present CoPhosK to predict kinase-substrate associations for phosphopeptide substrates detected by mass spectrometry (MS). The tool utilizes a Naïve Bayes framework with priors of known kinase-substrate associations (KSAs) to generate its predictions. Through the mining of MS data for the collective dynamic signatures of the kinases’ substrates revealed by correlation analysis of phosphopeptide intensity data, the tool infers KSAs in the data for the considerable body of substrates lacking such annotations. We benchmarked the tool against existing approaches for predicting KSAs that rely on static information (e.g. sequences, structures and interactions) using publically available MS data, including breast, colon, and ovarian cancer models. The benchmarking reveals that co-phosphorylation analysis can significantly improve prediction performance when static information is available (about 35% of sites) while providing reliable predictions for the remainder, thus tripling the KSAs available from the experimental MS data providing a to comprehensive and reliable characterization of the landscape of kinase-substrate interactions well beyond current limitations.Author SummaryKinases play an important role in cellular regulation and have emerged as an important class of drug targets for many diseases, particularly cancers. Comprehensive identification of the links between kinases and their substrates enhances our ability to understand the underlying mechanism of diseases and signalling networks to drive drug discovery. Most of the current computational methods for prediction of kinase-substrate associations use static information such as sequence motifs and physical interactions to generate predictions. However, phosphorylation is a dynamic process and these static predictions may overlook unique features of cellular context, where kinases may be rewired. In this manuscript, we propose a computational method, CoPhosK, which uses the mass spectrometry based phosphoproteomics data to predict the kinase for all identified phosphosites in the experiment. We show that our approach complements and extends existing approaches.