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Ma B, Liu D, Zheng M, Wang Z, Zhang D, Jian Y, Ma J, Fan Y, Chen Y, Gao Y, Liu J, Li X, Li L. Development of a Double-Stapled Peptide Stabilizing Both α-Helix and β-Sheet Structures for Degrading Transcription Factor AR-V7. JACS AU 2024; 4:816-827. [PMID: 38425893 PMCID: PMC10900202 DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.3c00795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Peptide drugs offer distinct advantages in therapeutics; however, their limited stability and membrane penetration abilities hinder their widespread application. One strategy to overcome these challenges is the hydrocarbon peptide stapling technique, which addresses issues such as poor conformational stability, weak proteolytic resistance, and limited membrane permeability. Nonetheless, while peptide stapling has successfully stabilized α-helical peptides, it has shown limited applicability for most β-sheet peptide motifs. In this study, we present the design of a novel double-stapled peptide capable of simultaneously stabilizing both α-helix and β-sheet structures. Our designed double-stapled peptide, named DSARTC, specifically targets the androgen receptor (AR) DNA binding domain and MDM2 as E3 ligase. Serving as a peptide-based PROTAC (proteolysis-targeting chimera), DSARTC exhibits the ability to degrade both the full-length AR and AR-V7. Molecular dynamics simulations and circular dichroism analysis validate the successful constraint of both secondary structures, demonstrating that DSARTC is a "first-in-class" heterogeneous-conformational double-stapled peptide drug candidate. Compared to its linear counterpart, DSARTC displays enhanced stability and an improved cell penetration ability. In an enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer animal model, DSARTC effectively inhibits tumor growth and reduces the levels of both AR and AR-V7 proteins. These results highlight the potential of DSARTC as a more potent and specific peptide PROTAC for AR-V7. Furthermore, our findings provide a promising strategy for expanding the design of staple peptide-based PROTAC drugs, targeting a wide range of "undruggable" transcription factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bohan Ma
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Donghua Liu
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Mengjun Zheng
- School
of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Zhe Wang
- Institute
of Bioengineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China
| | - Dize Zhang
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Yanlin Jian
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Jian Ma
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Yizeng Fan
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Yule Chen
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Yang Gao
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Jing Liu
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
| | - Xiang Li
- School
of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Lei Li
- Department
of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
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Ferková S, Froehlich U, Nepveu-Traversy MÉ, Murza A, Azad T, Grandbois M, Sarret P, Lavigne P, Boudreault PL. Comparative Analysis of Cyclization Techniques in Stapled Peptides: Structural Insights into Protein-Protein Interactions in a SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD/hACE2 Model System. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 25:166. [PMID: 38203338 PMCID: PMC10778704 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25010166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Revised: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Medicinal chemistry is constantly searching for new approaches to develop more effective and targeted therapeutic molecules. The design of peptidomimetics is a promising emerging strategy that is aimed at developing peptides that mimic or modulate the biological activity of proteins. Among these, stapled peptides stand out for their unique ability to stabilize highly frequent helical motifs, but they have failed to be systematically reported. Here, we exploit chemically diverse helix-inducing i, i + 4 constraints-lactam, hydrocarbon, triazole, double triazole and thioether-on two distinct short sequences derived from the N-terminal peptidase domain of hACE2 upon structural characterization and in silico alanine scan. Our overall objective was to provide a sequence-independent comparison of α-helix-inducing staples using circular dichroism (CD) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. We identified a 9-mer lactam stapled peptide derived from the hACE2 sequence (His34-Gln42) capable of reaching its maximal helicity of 55% with antiviral activity in bioreporter- and pseudovirus-based inhibition assays. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first comprehensive investigation comparing several cyclization methods with the goal of generating stapled peptides and correlating their secondary structures with PPI inhibitions using a highly topical model system (i.e., the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD with hACE2).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Pierre-Luc Boudreault
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Institut de Pharmacologie de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, 3001 12e Avenue Nord, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada; (S.F.); (M.-É.N.-T.); (A.M.); (T.A.)
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3
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Zhang Y, Yin R, Jiang H, Wang C, Wang X, Wang D, Zhang K, Yu R, Li X, Jiang T. Peptide Stapling through Site-Directed Conjugation of Triazine Moieties to the Tyrosine Residues of a Peptide. Org Lett 2023; 25:2248-2252. [PMID: 36966420 DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c00499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/27/2023]
Abstract
Peptide stapling is a strategy for improving the biological properties of peptides. Herein, we report a novel method for stapling peptides that utilizes bifunctional triazine moieties for two-component conjugation to the phenolic hydroxyl groups of tyrosine, which enables efficient stapling of unprotected peptides. In addition, we applied this strategy to the RGD peptide that can target integrins and demonstrated that the stapled RGD peptide had significantly improved plasma stability and integrin-targeting ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Ruijuan Yin
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
- Marine Biomedical Research Institute of Qiangdao, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Hao Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Chaoming Wang
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Xiao Wang
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Dongping Wang
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Kai Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Rilei Yu
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Xuechen Li
- Department of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China
| | - Tao Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs Chinese Ministry of Education, Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
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4
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Calugi L, Sautariello G, Lenci E, Mattei ML, Coppa C, Cini N, Contini A, Trabocchi A. Identification of a short ACE2-derived stapled peptide targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Eur J Med Chem 2023; 249:115118. [PMID: 36682293 PMCID: PMC9842534 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2023.115118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2022] [Revised: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
The design and synthesis of a series of peptide derivatives based on a short ACE2 α-helix 1 epitope and subsequent [i - i+4] stapling of the secondary structure resulted in the identification of a 9-mer peptide capable to compete with recombinant ACE2 towards Spike RBD in the micromolar range. Specifically, SARS-CoV-2 Spike inhibitor screening based on colorimetric ELISA assay and structural studies by circular dichroism showed the ring-closing metathesis cyclization being capable to stabilize the helical structure of the 9-mer 34HEAEDLFYQ42 epitope better than the triazole stapling via click chemistry. MD simulations showed the stapled peptide being able not only to bind the Spike RBD, sterically interfering with ACE2, but also showing higher affinity to the target as compared to parent epitope.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Calugi
- Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 13, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
| | - Giulia Sautariello
- Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 13, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
| | - Elena Lenci
- Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 13, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
| | - Mauro Leucio Mattei
- General Laboratory, Careggi University Hospital, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134, Florence, Italy
| | - Crescenzo Coppa
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Milan, Via Venezian 21, 20133, Milan, Italy
| | - Nicoletta Cini
- General Laboratory, Careggi University Hospital, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134, Florence, Italy
| | - Alessandro Contini
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Milan, Via Venezian 21, 20133, Milan, Italy
| | - Andrea Trabocchi
- Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 13, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy.
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