Biotinylated lipid bilayer disks as model membranes for biosensor analyses

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-stabilized lipid bilayer disks as model membranes for surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based biosensor analyses. Nanosized bilayer disks that included 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[biotinyl(polyethylene glycol)(2000)] (DSPE-PEG(2000)-biotin) were prepared and structurally characterized by cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) imaging. The biotinylated disks were immobilized via streptavidin to three different types of sensor chips (CM3, CM4, and CM5) varying in their degree of carboxymethylation and thickness of the dextran matrix. The bilayer disks were found to interact with and bind stably to the streptavidin-coated sensor surfaces. As a first step toward the use of these bilayer disks as model membranes in SPR-based studies of membrane proteins, initial investigations were carried out with cyclooxygenases 1 and 2 (COX 1 and COX 2). Bilayer disks were preincubated with the respective protein and thereafter allowed to interact with the sensor surface. The signal resulting from the interaction was, in both cases, significantly enhanced as compared with the signal obtained when disks alone were injected over the surface. The results of the study suggest that bilayer disks constitute a new and promising type of model membranes for SPR-based biosensor studies.

Development of surface plasmon resonance biosensor assays for primary and secondary screening of acetylcholine binding protein ligands

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors recently gained an important place in drug discovery. Here we present a primary and secondary SPR biosensor screening methodology. The primary screening method is based on a direct binding assay with covalent immobilized drug target proteins. For the secondary screening method, a sequential competition assay has been developed where the captured protein is first exposed to an unknown test compound, followed directly by an exposure to a high-molecular-weight reporter ligand. Using the high-molecular-weight reporter ligand to probe the remaining free binding site on the sensor, a significant signal enhancement is obtained. Furthermore, this assay format allows the validation of the primary direct binding assay format, efficiently revealing false positive data. As a model system, acetylcholine binding protein (AChBP), which is a soluble model protein for neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, has been used. The secondary assay is lower in throughput than the primary assay; however, the signal-to-noise ratio is two times higher compared with the direct assay, and it has a z' factor of 0.96. Using both assays, we identified the compound tacrine as a ligand for AChBP.

HSA binding of HIV protease inhibitors: a high-performance affinity chromatography study

The binding of HIV protease inhibitors, drugs important for anti-HIV chemotherapy, to HSA was examined by high-performance affinity chromatography. Frontal analysis was first used to determine the amount of anchored protein and the binding capacity for selected markers on this column. Zonal elution experiments then ranked the HSA bound fraction of the examined compounds. Information on the binding region was obtained by competitive zonal elution experiments using probe compounds with known sites on HSA. An allosteric competition between HIV protease inhibitors (PIs) and valproate (a probe for the bilirubin site) was detected, consistent with a noncooperative binding mechanism. No significant competition was observed between the examined compounds and salicylate or ibuprofen, probes for sites I and II, respectively. The observations were confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy, based on the change in the induced circular dichroism signals of selected markers for the main binding sites of HSA when ritonavir was added as the competitor. These results were in good agreement with previous literature reports and provide more details on how PIs are transported in plasma and how they may compete with other drugs in the body.

Characterization of Ca2+ and phosphocholine interactions with C-reactive protein using a surface plasmon resonance biosensor

The interactions between Ca2+ and C-reactive protein (CRP) have been characterized using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor. The protein was immobilized on a sensor chip, and increasing concentrations of Ca2+ or phosphocholine were injected. Binding of Ca2+ induced a 10-fold higher signal than expected from the molecular weight of Ca2+. It was interpreted to result from the conformational change that occurs on binding of Ca2+. Two sites with different characteristics were distinguished: a high-affinity site with K(D)=0.03 mM and a low-affinity site with K(D)=5.45 mM. The pH dependencies of the two Ca2+ interactions were different and enabled the assignment of the different sites in the three-dimensional structure of CRP. There was no evidence for cooperativity in the phosphocholine interaction, which had K(D)=5 microM at 10 mM Ca2+. SPR biosensors can clearly detect and quantify the binding of very small molecules or ions to immobilized proteins despite the theoretically very low signals expected on binding, provided that significant conformational changes are involved. Both the interactions and the conformational changes can be characterized. The data have important implications for the understanding of the function of CRP and suggest that Ca2+ is an efficient regulator under physiological conditions.

Screening for NNRTIs with Slow Dissociation and High Affinity for a Panel of HIV-1 RT Variants

A lead optimization library consisting of 800 HIV-1 nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) was screened in parallel against 4 clinically relevant variants of HIV-1 RT (Wt, L100I, Y181C, and K103N) using a surface plasmon resonance—based biosensor. The aim was to identify inhibitors suitable in specific topical microbicides efficient for preventing the transmission of a range of clinically significant strains of HIV-1. The authors hypothesized that such compounds should have high affinity and slow dissociation rates for multiple variants of the target. To efficiently analyze the large amount of real-time data (sensorgrams) that were generated in the screening, they initially used signals from 3 selected time points to identify compounds with high affinity and slow dissociation for the complete panel of enzyme variants. Hits were confirmed by visually inspecting the complete sensorgrams. Two structurally unrelated compounds fulfilled the hit criteria, but only 1 compound was found to (a) compete with a known NNRTI for binding to the NNRTI site, (b) inhibit HIV-1 RT activity, and (c) inhibit HIV-1 replication in cell culture, for all 4 enzyme variants. This novel screening methodology offers high-resolution real-time kinetic data for multiple targets in parallel. It is expected to have broad applicability for the discovery of compounds with defined kinetic profiles, crucial for optimal therapeutic effects. ( Journal of Biomolecular Screening 2009:395-403)

Mechanistic studies of electrophilic protease inhibitors of full length hepatic C virus (HCV) NS3

The inhibition mechanism of electrophilic peptide-based protease inhibitors of full-length hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3 has been investigated by determining the K(i)-values for a series of compounds differing in the electrophilicity and acidity of the C-terminal residue at pH-values above and below the pK(a) of the catalytic histidine (6.85) and at two different ionic strengths. Electrophilic compounds with a pentafluoroethyl ketone group showed stronger inhibition at pH 8 than pH 6, as expected for a mechanism requiring an unprotonated catalytic histidine. However, the difference was only significant at high ionic strength. In contrast, electrophilic compounds with an acidic C-terminal group or a cyclic P1 residue showed a lower inhibitory effect at pH 8 than at pH 6, inconsistent with a mechanism-based inhibition. Moreover, all electrophilic compounds had an unexpectedly strong inhibition at pH 6, when mechanism-based inhibition is unlikely. The results suggest that for some of the electrophilic compounds the reactive group may not be properly positioned in the active site and that binding of these inhibitors is a result of non-covalent interactions. The nature of these interactions is discussed.

Identification of MMP-12 inhibitors by using biosensor-based screening of a fragment library

Small inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinase 12 (MMP-12) have been identified with a biosensor-based screening strategy and a specifically designed fragment library. The interaction between fragments and three variants of the target and a reference protein with an active-site zinc ion was measured continuously by surface plasmon resonance. The developed experimental design overcame the inherent instability of MMP-12 and allowed the identification of fragments that interacted specifically with the active-site of MMP-12 but not with the reference protein. The interaction with MMP-12 for selected compounds were analyzed for concentration dependence and saturability. Compounds interacting distinctly with the target were further evaluated by an activity-based assay, verifying MMP-12 inhibition. Two effective inhibitors were identified, and the compound with highest affinity was confirmed to be a competitive inhibitor with an IC50 of 290 nM and a ligand efficiency of 0.7 kcal/mol heavy atom. This procedure integrates selectivity and binding site identification into the screening procedure and does not require structure determination.

Additional level of information about complex interaction between non-nucleoside inhibitor and HIV-1 reverse transcriptase using biosensor-based thermodynamic analysis

The thermodynamics of the interaction between mutant HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (K103N and Y181C) and a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), the phenylethylthiazolylurea compound MIV-150, was obtained by determining the temperature dependence of the kinetic rate constants. Large entropic changes in the forward and backward steps of the isomerization between a non-binding competent and a binding competent conformation of the enzyme, as well as in the binding steps, implied the involvement of major structural rearrangements upon interaction with the inhibitor. Despite of the entropic character of the overall interaction, the equilibrium for the binding of inhibitor was found to be predominantly enthalpy-driven. The high affinity and the low affinity interactions of the heterogeneously interacting inhibitor showed different energetics in the analysis, revealing an expectedly higher enthalpic component for the high-affinity interaction. The thermodynamic profiles of the two enzyme variants displayed significant differences, which could not be derived from their kinetics at a single temperature.

Biomolecular recognition of glycosylated beta(3)-peptides by GalNAc specific lectins

The molecular recognition of a novel kind of hybrid conjugates, composed of artificial biomimetic beta-peptide oligomers with an O-linked natural N-acetyl-galactosamine (the Tn-antigen) residue, by four different GalNAc specific lectins was investigated using surface plasmon biosensor technology. The influence of the peptide and the glycosyl moiety on the recognition was studied using two glycosylated beta(3)-heptapeptides, a glycosylated alpha-heptapeptide, two beta-amino acid containing dipeptides, and monomeric alphaGalNAc-O-Thr. Although all four lectins displayed a decreased affinity for the carbohydrate residue when attached to a peptide, as compared to the monomeric Tn-antigen, the peptide part was found to have distinct effects on the binding kinetics-indicating that varying degrees of protein-peptide interactions occurred in the recognition process. Likewise, the lectins did not discriminate between beta(3)-peptides and the alpha-peptide, but the beta-linkage of the galactose had a detrimental effect for at least two of the lectins.

Resistance Profiling of Hepatitis C Virus Protease Inhibitors using Full-Length NS3

Background

The NS3 protease of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a prime target for anti-HCV drugs but resistance towards inhibitors of the enzyme is likely to emerge because of mutations in the viral genome that modify the structure of the protein. Enzyme inhibition data supporting this is limited to studies with few compounds and analysis performed with truncated NS3.

Experimental

The potential of HCV acquiring resistance towards NS3 protease inhibitors and the structural features associated with resistance has been explored with a series of inhibitors and by using full-length NS3 protease/helicase variants with amino acid substitutions (A156T, D168V and R155Q) in the protease domain.

Results

The A156T and D168V substitutions did not influence the kinetic properties of the protease, whereas the R155Q substitution reduced the catalytic efficiency 20 times, as compared with the wild type. Inhibition studies revealed that these substitutions primarily affected the potency of compounds which effectively inhibit the wild-type enzyme, and had little effect on weak or moderate inhibitors. As a consequence, all compounds had similar inhibitory potencies to the substituted enzyme variants. An exception was VX-950, which inhibited the D168V enzyme more efficiently than the wild type. For this inhibitor, the present data correlated better with replicon data than data from assays with truncated enzyme.

Conclusions

These results have provided a structural basis for designing inhibitors that may be less susceptible to resistance by three known mutations, and suggest that the present variants of full-length NS3 constitute effective models for resistance profiling of NS3 protease inhibitors.

Evaluation of a diverse set of potential P1 carboxylic acid bioisosteres in hepatitis C virus NS3 protease inhibitors

There is an urgent need for more efficient therapies for people infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV NS3 protease inhibitors have shown proof-of-concept in clinical trials, which make the virally encoded NS3 protease an attractive drug target. Product-based NS3 protease inhibitors comprising a P1 C-terminal carboxylic acid have shown to be effective and we were interested in finding alternatives to this crucial carboxylic acid group. Thus, a series of diverse P1 functional groups with different acidity and with possibilities to form a similar, or an even more powerful, hydrogen bond network as compared to the carboxylic acid were synthesized and incorporated into potential inhibitors of the NS3 protease. Biochemical evaluation of the inhibitors was performed in both enzyme and cell-based assays. Several non-acidic C-terminal groups, such as amides and hydrazides, were evaluated but failed to produce inhibitors more potent than the corresponding carboxylic acid inhibitor. The tetrazole moiety, although of similar acidity to a carboxylic acid, provided an inhibitor with mediocre potencies in both assays. However, the acyl cyanamide and the acyl sulfinamide groups rendered compounds with low nanomolar inhibitory potencies and were more potent than the corresponding carboxylic acid inhibitor in the enzymatic assay. Additionally, results from a pH-study suggest that the P(1) C-terminal of the inhibitors comprising a carboxylic acid, an acyl sulfonamide or an acyl cyanamide group binds in a similar mode in the active site of the NS3 protease.

Phenylglycine as a novel P2 scaffold in hepatitis C virus NS3 protease inhibitors

Molecular modeling and inhibitory potencies of tetrapeptide protease inhibitors of HCV NS3 proposed phenylglycine as a new promising P2 residue. The results suggest that phenylglycine might be capable of interacting with the NS3 (protease-helicase/NTPase) in ways not possible for the common P2 proline-based inhibitors. Thus, a series of tripeptides, both linear and macrocyclic, based on p-hydroxy-phenylglycine in the P2 position were prepared and their inhibitory effect determined. When the p-hydroxy group was replaced by methoxy, isoquinolin-, or quinolinyloxy functions, inhibitors with improved potencies were obtained. The P2 phenylglycine-based inhibitors were further optimized by C-terminal extension to acyl sulfonamides and by P1-P3 cyclization, which gave products with inhibition constants in the nanomolar range ( approximately 75nM).

Resistance profiling of hepatitis C virus protease inhibitors using full-length NS3

BACKGROUND

The NS3 protease of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a prime target for anti-HCV drugs but resistance towards inhibitors of the enzyme is likely to emerge because of mutations in the viral genome that modify the structure of the protein. Enzyme inhibition data supporting this is limited to studies with few compounds and analysis performed with truncated NS3.

EXPERIMENTAL

The potential of HCV acquiring resistance towards NS3 protease inhibitors and the structural features associated with resistance has been explored with a series of inhibitors and by using full-length NS3 protease/helicase variants with amino acid substitutions (A156T, D168V and R155Q) in the protease domain.

RESULTS

The A156T and D168V substitutions did not influence the kinetic properties of the protease, whereas the R155Q substitution reduced the catalytic efficiency 20 times, as compared with the wild type. Inhibition studies revealed that these substitutions primarily affected the potency of compounds which effectively inhibit the wild-type enzyme, and had little effect on weak or moderate inhibitors. As a consequence, all compounds had similar inhibitory potencies to the substituted enzyme variants. An exception was VX-950, which inhibited the D168V enzyme more efficiently than the wild type. For this inhibitor, the present data correlated better with replicon data than data from assays with truncated enzyme.

CONCLUSIONS

These results have provided a structural basis for designing inhibitors that may be less susceptible to resistance by three known mutations, and suggest that the present variants of full-length NS3 constitute effective models for resistance profiling of NS3 protease inhibitors.

Sensitivity analysis and error structure of progress curves

Both the sensitivity of the monitored signal in progress curves to variations in enzyme concentration and the standard deviation of this signal were analyzed as a function of the proportion of transformed substrate. Three enzymes catalyzing essentially irreversible reactions were used as model systems: HIV-1 protease, glutathione reductase, and glutathione transferase. For all enzymes analyzed, the sensitivity was maximal when 60-80% of the substrate had been transformed. The standard deviation of reaction progress curve data replicates was also maximal at these substrate conversion levels, a result that was attributed to the influence of the sensitivity to random dispersion of the enzyme concentration. On this basis, we developed a model for the standard deviation of reaction progress curves that gave a good description of the experimental data and efficiently reduced the heteroscedasticity of residuals in a weighted fit of progress curves. This standard deviation model can be used for obtaining more efficient parameter estimates, to simulate noise in Monte Carlo procedures, and to delineate detection limits of enzyme inhibition. The transient increases in the sensitivity and in the standard deviation in progress curves are proposed to be features common to most enzymatic assays.

Detection of competitive enzyme inhibition with end point progress curve data

A model for a dimensionless factor, the inhibition detection limit (IDL), which describes the limit of detection of competitive inhibition for end point assays as a function of the proportion of substrate converted into product, has been developed. For a given end point enzymatic assay, the IDL function has a maximum that is dependent on the error structure parameters (four parameters) of the assay, the value of [S]o/K(ms), and the extent of product inhibition (K(ms)/K(mp)). Accordingly, the substrate conversion level that maximized the ability to detect samples with high Ki/[I] ratios was predicted for each member of a population of simulated assays. Furthermore, we identified a consensus substrate conversion level where the probability of a near-optimal robustness and detection limit for all the members of the assay population is maximal. Unlike the optimal substrate conversion level for individual assays, this consensus substrate conversion level was dependent only on [S]o/K(m), K(ms)/K(mp), and whether the signal increases or decreases during the course of the reaction. Consensus substrate conversion levels were beyond the initial velocity range for almost all the analyzed assay populations. It was shown that the IDL factor was a more informative indicator of assay quality than the popular Z' factor.

Inhibition of viral proteases by Zingiberaceae extracts and flavones isolated from Kaempferia parviflora

In order to identify novel lead compounds with antiviral effect, methanol and aqueous extracts of eight medicinal plants in the Zingiberaceae family were screened for inhibition of proteases from human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). In general, the methanol extracts inhibited the enzymes more effectively than the aqueous extracts. HIV-1 protease was strongly inhibited by the methanol extract of Alpinia galanga. This extract also inhibited HCV and HCMV proteases, but to a lower degree. HCV protease was most efficiently inhibited by the extracts from Zingiber officinale, with little difference between the aqueous and the methanol extracts. Many of the methanol extracts inhibited HCMV protease, but the aqueous extracts showed weak inhibition. In a first endeavor to identify the active constituents, eight flavones were isolated from the black rhizomes of Kaempferia parviflora. The most effective inhibitors, 5-hydroxy-7-methoxyflavone and 5,7-dimethoxyflavone, inhibited HIV-1 protease with IC50 values of 19 microM. Moreover, 5-hydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyflavone inhibited HCV protease and HCMV protease with IC50 values of 190 and 250 microM, respectively.

Interaction kinetic characterization of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase non-nucleoside inhibitor resistance

To decipher the mechanism for non-nucleoside inhibitor resistance of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, the kinetics of the interaction between wild type and drug-resistant variants of the enzyme and structurally diverse inhibitors were determined. Substitution of amino acid residues in the inhibitor binding site resulted in altered rate constants for the pre-equilibrium between two unliganded forms of the enzyme, and for the association and dissociation of the inhibitor-enzyme interaction. The Y181C, V108I, and P225H substitutions affected primarily the association and dissociation rate constants, while the K103N and the L100I substitutions also influenced the equilibrium between the two forms of the free enzyme. The K103N and the L100I substitutions were found to facilitate both the entry of the inhibitor into the binding pocket as well as its exit, in contrast to what has been reported elsewhere. Interaction kinetic-based resistance profiles showed that phenethylthiazolylthiourea compounds were relatively insensitive to the studied substitutions.