Chemical Interrogation of Drug/RNA Complexes: From Chemical Reactivity to Drug Design

Binding-driven reactivity attenuation enables NMR identification of selective drug candidates for nucleic acid targets

NMR methods, and in particular ligand-based approaches, are among the most robust and reliable alternatives for binding detection and consequently, they have become highly popular in the context of hit identification and drug discovery. However, when dealing with DNA/RNA targets, these techniques face limitations that have precluded widespread application in medicinal chemistry. In order to expand the arsenal of spectroscopic tools for binding detection and to overcome the existing difficulties, herein we explore the scope and limitations of a strategy that makes use of a binding indicator previously unexploited by NMR: the perturbation of the ligand reactivity caused by complex formation. The obtained results indicate that ligand reactivity can be utilised to reveal association processes and identify the best binders within mixtures of significant complexity, providing a conceptually different reactivity-based alternative within NMR screening methods.

Synthesis of Ring II/III Fragment of Kanamycin: A New Minimum Structural Motif for Aminoglycoside Recognition

A novel protocol has been established to prepare the kanamycin ring II/III fragment, which has been validated as a minimum structural motif for the development of new aminoglycosides on the basis of its bactericidal activity even against resistant strains. Furthermore, its ability to act as a AAC-(6′) and APH-(3′) binder, and as a poor substrate for the ravenous ANT-(4′), makes it an excellent candidate for the design of inhibitors of these aminoglycoside modifying enzymes.

Selective modification of the 3''-amino group of kanamycin prevents significant loss of activity in resistant bacterial strains

Aminoglycosides are highly potent, wide-spectrum bactericidals. N-1 modification of aminoglycosides has thus far been the best approach to regain bactericidal efficiency of this class of antibiotics against resistant bacterial strains. In the present study we have evaluated the effect that both, the number of modifications and their distribution on the aminoglycoside amino groups (N-1, N-3, N-6' and N-3''), have on the antibiotic activity. The modification of N-3'' in the antibiotic kanamycin A is the key towards the design of new aminoglycoside antibiotics. This derivative maintains the antibiotic activity against aminoglycoside acetyl-transferase- and nucleotidyl-transferase-expressing strains, which are two of the most prevalent modifying enzymes found in aminoglycoside resistant bacteria.

Detection of tumor-associated glycopeptides by lectins: the peptide context modulates carbohydrate recognition

Tn antigen (α-O-GalNAc-Ser/Thr) is a convenient cancer biomarker that is recognized by antibodies and lectins. This work yields remarkable results for two plant lectins in terms of epitope recognition and reveals that these receptors show higher affinity for Tn antigen when it is incorporated in the Pro-Asp-Thr-Arg (PDTR) peptide region of mucin MUC1. In contrast, a significant affinity loss is observed when Tn antigen is located in the Ala-His-Gly-Val-Thr-Ser-Ala (AHGVTSA) or Ala-Pro-Gly-Ser-Thr-Ala-Pro (APGSTAP) fragments. Our data indicate that the charged residues, Arg and Asp, present in the PDTR sequence establish noteworthy fundamental interactions with the lectin surface as well as fix the conformation of the peptide backbone, favoring the presentation of the sugar moiety toward the lectin. These results may help to better understand glycopeptide-lectin interactions and may contribute to engineer new binding sites, allowing novel glycosensors for Tn antigen detection to be designed.

Tethering in RNA: an RNA-binding fragment discovery tool

Tethering has been extensively used to study small molecule interactions with proteins through reversible disulfide bond forming reactions to cysteine residues. We describe the adaptation of Tethering to the study of small molecule binding to RNA using a thiol-containing adenosine analog (A_SH). Among 30 disulfide-containing small molecules screened for efficient Tethering to A_SH-bearing RNAs derived from pre-miR21, a benzotriazole-containing compound showed prominent adduct formation and selectivity for one of the RNAs tested. The results of this screen demonstrate the viability of using thiol-modified nucleic acids to discover molecules with binding affinity and specificity for the purpose of therapeutic compound lead discovery.

Dynamic combinatorial/covalent chemistry: a tool to read, generate and modulate the bioactivity of compounds and compound mixtures

Reversible covalent bond formation under thermodynamic control adds reactivity to self-assembled supramolecular systems, and is therefore an ideal tool to assess complexity of chemical and biological systems. Dynamic combinatorial/covalent chemistry (DCC) has been used to read structural information by selectively assembling receptors with the optimum molecular fit around a given template from a mixture of reversibly reacting building blocks. This technique allows access to efficient sensing devices and the generation of new biomolecules, such as small molecule receptor binders for drug discovery, but also larger biomimetic polymers and macromolecules with particular three-dimensional structural architectures. Adding a kinetic factor to a thermodynamically controlled equilibrium results in dynamic resolution and in self-sorting and self-replicating systems, all of which are of major importance in biological systems. Furthermore, the temporary modification of bioactive compounds by reversible combinatorial/covalent derivatisation allows control of their release and facilitates their transport across amphiphilic self-assembled systems such as artificial membranes or cell walls. The goal of this review is to give a conceptual overview of how the impact of DCC on supramolecular assemblies at different levels can allow us to understand, predict and modulate the complexity of biological systems.