Development and Implementation of a 384-Well Homogeneous Fluorescence Intensity High-Throughput Screening Assay to Identify Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Phosphatase-1 Dual-Specificity Protein Phosphatase Inhibitors

Fused Tetrahydroquinolines Are Interfering with Your Assay

Tricyclic tetrahydroquinolines (THQs) have been repeatedly reported as hits across a diverse range of high-throughput screening (HTS) campaigns. The activities of these compounds, however, are likely due to reactive byproducts that interfere with the assay. As a lesser studied class of pan-assay interference compounds, the mechanism by which fused THQs react with protein targets remains largely unknown. During HTS follow-up, we characterized the behavior and stability of several fused tricyclic THQs. We synthesized key analogues to pinpoint the cyclopentene ring double bond as a source of reactivity of fused THQs. We found that these compounds degrade in solution under standard laboratory conditions in days. Importantly, these observations make it likely that fused THQs, which are ubiquitously found within small molecule screening libraries, are unlikely the intact parent compounds. We urge deprioritization of tricylic THQ hits in HTS follow-up and caution against the investment of resources to follow-up on these problematic compounds.

Affinity selection-mass spectrometry for the discovery of pharmacologically active compounds from combinatorial libraries and natural products

Invented to address the high-throughput screening (HTS) demands of combinatorial chemistry, affinity selection-mass spectrometry (AS-MS) utilizes binding interactions between ligands and receptors to isolate pharmacologically active compounds from mixtures of small molecules and then relies on the selectivity, sensitivity, and speed of mass spectrometry to identify them. No radiolabels, fluorophores, or chromophores are required. Although many variations of AS-MS have been devised, three approaches have emerged as the most flexible, productive, and popular, and they differ primarily in how ligand-receptor complexes are separated from nonbinding compounds in the mixture. These are pulsed ultrafiltration (PUF) AS-MS, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) AS-MS, and magnetic microbead affinity selection screening (MagMASS). PUF and SEC AS-MS are solution-phase screening approaches, and MagMASS uses receptors immobilized on magnetic microbeads. Because pools of compounds are screened using AS-MS, each containing hundreds to thousands of potential ligands, hundreds of thousands of compounds can be screened per day. AS-MS is also compatible with complex mixtures of chemically diverse natural products in extracts of botanicals and fungi and microbial cultures, which often contain fluorophores and chromophores that can interfere with convention HTS. Unlike conventional HTS, AS-MS may be used to discover ligands binding to allosteric as well as orthosteric receptor sites, and AS-MS has been useful for discovering ligands to targets that are not easily incorporated into conventional HTS such as membrane-bound receptors.

High-Content Screening Campaign to Identify Compounds That Inhibit or Disrupt Androgen Receptor-Transcriptional Intermediary Factor 2 Protein-Protein Interactions for the Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Twenty percent of prostate cancer (PCa) patients develop a noncurable drug-resistant form of the disease termed castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Overexpression of Androgen Receptor (AR) coactivators such as transcriptional intermediary factor 2 (TIF2) is associated with poor CRPC patient outcomes. We describe the implementation of the AR-TIF2 protein-protein interaction biosensor (PPIB) assay in a high-content screening (HCS) campaign of 143,535 compounds. The assay performed robustly and reproducibly and enabled us to identify compounds that inhibited dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-induced AR-TIF2 protein-protein interaction (PPI) formation or disrupted preexisting AR-TIF2 PPIs. We used multiparameter HCS data z-scores to identify and deprioritize cytotoxic or autofluorescent outliers and confirmed the resulting qualified actives in triplicate. None of the confirmed AR-TIF2 PPIB inhibitors/disruptors exhibited activity in a p53-hDM2 PPIB counter screen, indicating that they were unlikely to be either nonselective PPI inhibitors or to interfere with the biosensor assay format. However, eight confirmed AR-TIF2 PPIB actives also inhibited the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) nuclear translocation counter screen by >50%. These compounds were deprioritized because they either lacked AR specificity/selectivity, or they inhibited a shared component of the AR and GR signaling pathways. Twenty-nine confirmed AR-TIF2 PPIB actives also inhibited the AR nuclear localization counter screen, suggesting that they might indirectly inhibit the AR-TIF2 PPIB assay rather than directly blocking/disrupting PPIs. A total of 62.2% of the confirmed actives inhibited the DHT-induced AR-TIF2 PPI formation in a concentration-dependent manner with IC₅₀s < 40 μM, and 59.4% also disrupted preexisting AR-TIF2 PPI complexes. Overall, the hit rate for the AR-TIF2 PPIB HCS campaign was 0.12%, and most hits inhibited AR-TIF2 PPI formation and disrupted preexisting AR-TIF2 complexes with similar AR-red fluorescent protein distribution phenotypes. Further secondary and tertiary hit characterization assays are underway to select AR-TIF2 PPI inhibitor/disruptor hits suitable for medicinal chemistry lead optimization and development into novel PCa/CRPC therapeutics.

Small molecule targeting of PTPs in cancer

Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) undeniably have a central role in the development and progression of human cancers. Historically, however, PTPs have not been viewed as privileged drug targets, and progress on identifying potent, selective, and cell-active small molecule PTP inhibitors has suffered accordingly. This situation is rapidly changing, however, due to biochemical advances in the study of PTPs and recent small molecule screening campaigns, which have identified potent and mechanistically diverse lead structures. These compounds are facilitating the exploration of the fundamental cellular processes controlled by PTPs in cancers, and could form the inflection point for new therapeutic paradigms for the treatment of a range of cancers. Herein, we review recent advances in the discovery and biological annotation of cancer-relevant small molecule PTP inhibitors.

New Approaches to Difficult Drug Targets: The Phosphatase Story

The drug discovery landscape is littered with promising therapeutic targets that have been abandoned because of insufficient validation, historical screening failures, and inferior chemotypes. Molecular targets once labeled as “undruggable” or “intractable” are now being more carefully interrogated, and while they remain challenging, many target classes are appearing more approachable. Protein tyrosine phosphatases represent an excellent example of a category of molecular targets that have emerged as druggable, with several small molecules and antibodies recently becoming available for further development. In this review, we examine some of the diseases that are associated with protein tyrosine phosphatase dysfunction and use some prototype contemporary strategies to illustrate approaches that are being used to identify small molecules targeting this enzyme class.

Epigenetic assays for chemical biology and drug discovery

The implication of epigenetic abnormalities in many diseases and the approval of a number of compounds that modulate specific epigenetic targets in a therapeutically relevant manner in cancer specifically confirms that some of these targets are druggable by small molecules. Furthermore, a number of compounds are currently in clinical trials for other diseases including cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic disorders. Despite these advances, the approved treatments for cancer only extend progression-free survival for a relatively short time and being associated with significant side effects. The current clinical trials involving the next generation of epigenetic drugs may address the disadvantages of the currently approved epigenetic drugs.

The identification of chemical starting points of many drugs often makes use of screening in vitro assays against libraries of synthetic or natural products. These assays can be biochemical (using purified protein) or cell-based (using for example, genetically modified, cancer cell lines or primary cells) and performed in microtiter plates, thus enabling a large number of samples to be tested. A considerable number of such assays are available to monitor epigenetic target activity, and this review provides an overview of drug discovery and chemical biology and describes assays that monitor activities of histone deacetylase, lysine-specific demethylase, histone methyltransferase, histone acetyltransferase and bromodomain. It is of critical importance that an appropriate assay is developed and comprehensively validated for a given drug target prior to screening in order to improve the probability of the compound progressing in the drug discovery value chain.

A Tumor Cell-Selective Inhibitor of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Phosphatases Sensitizes Breast Cancer Cells to Lymphokine-Activated Killer Cell Activity

Dual specificity mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatases [dual specificity phosphatase/MAP kinase phosphatase (DUSP-MKP)] have been hypothesized to maintain cancer cell survival by buffering excessive MAPK signaling caused by upstream activating oncogenic products. A large and diverse body of literature suggests that genetic depletion of DUSP-MKPs can reduce tumorigenicity, suggesting that hyperactivating MAPK signaling by DUSP-MKP inhibitors could be a novel strategy to selectively affect the transformed phenotype. Through in vivo structure-activity relationship studies in transgenic zebrafish we recently identified a hyperactivator of fibroblast growth factor signaling [(E)-2-benzylidene-5-bromo-3-(cyclohexylamino)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-one (BCI-215)] that is devoid of developmental toxicity and restores defective MAPK activity caused by overexpression of DUSP1 and DUSP6 in mammalian cells. Here, we hypothesized that BCI-215 could selectively affect survival of transformed cells. In MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells, BCI-215 inhibited cell motility, caused apoptosis but not primary necrosis, and sensitized cells to lymphokine-activated killer cell activity. Mechanistically, BCI-215 induced rapid and sustained phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p38, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in the absence of reactive oxygen species, and its toxicity was partially rescued by inhibition of p38 but not JNK or ERK. BCI-215 also hyperactivated MKK4/SEK1, suggesting activation of stress responses. Kinase phosphorylation profiling documented BCI-215 selectively activated MAPKs and their downstream substrates, but not receptor tyrosine kinases, SRC family kinases, AKT, mTOR, or DNA damage pathways. Our findings support the hypothesis that BCI-215 causes selective cancer cell cytotoxicity in part through non-redox-mediated activation of MAPK signaling, and the findings also identify an intersection with immune cell killing that is worthy of further exploration.

HAMS: High-Affinity Mass Spectrometry Screening. A High-Throughput Screening Method for Identifying the Tightest-Binding Lead Compounds for Target Proteins with No False Positive Identifications

A major challenge in drug discovery is the identification of high affinity lead compounds that bind a particular target protein; these leads are typically identified by high throughput screens. Mass spectrometry has become a detection method of choice in drug screening assays because the target and the ligand need not be modified. Label-free assays are advantageous because they can be developed more rapidly than assays requiring labels, and they eliminate the risk of the label interfering with the binding event. However, in commonly used MS-based screening methods, detection of false positives is a major challenge. Here, we describe a detection strategy designed to eliminate false positives. In this approach, the protein and the ligands are incubated together, and the non-binders are separated for detection. Hits (protein binders) are not detectable by MS after incubation with the protein, but readily identifiable by MS when the target protein is not present in the incubation media. The assay was demonstrated using three different proteins and hundreds of non-inhibitors; no false positive hits were identified in any experiment. The assay can be tuned to select for ligands of a particular binding affinity by varying the quantity of protein used and the immobilization method. As examples, the method selectively detected inhibitors that have K_i values of 0.2 μM, 50 pM, and 700 pM. These findings demonstrate that the approach described here compares favorably with traditional MS-based screening methods. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Reconfiguring the AR-TIF2 Protein-Protein Interaction HCS Assay in Prostate Cancer Cells and Characterizing the Hits from a LOPAC Screen

The continued activation of androgen receptor (AR) transcription and elevated expression of AR and transcriptional intermediary factor 2 (TIF2) coactivator observed in prostate cancer (CaP) recurrence and the development of castration-resistant CaP (CRPC) support a screening strategy for small-molecule inhibitors of AR-TIF2 protein-protein interactions (PPIs) to find new drug candidates. Small molecules can elicit tissue selective effects, because the cells of distinct tissues express different levels and cohorts of coregulatory proteins. We reconfigured the AR-TIF2 PPI biosensor (PPIB) assay in the PC-3 CaP cell line to determine whether AR modulators and hits from an AR-TIF2 PPIB screen conducted in U-2 OS cells would behave differently in the CaP cell background. Although we did not observe any significant differences in the compound responses between the assay performed in osteosarcoma and CaP cells, the U-2 OS AR-TIF2 PPIB assay would be more amenable to screening, because both the virus and cell culture demands are lower. We implemented a testing paradigm of counter-screens and secondary hit characterization assays that allowed us to identify and deprioritize hits that inhibited/disrupted AR-TIF2 PPIs and AR transcriptional activation (AR-TA) through antagonism of AR ligand binding or by non-specifically blocking nuclear receptor trafficking. Since AR-TIF2 PPI inhibitor/disruptor molecules act distally to AR ligand binding, they have the potential to modulate AR-TA in a cell-specific manner that is distinct from existing anti-androgen drugs, and to overcome the development of resistance to AR antagonism. We anticipate that the application of this testing paradigm to characterize the hits from an AR-TIF2 PPI high-content screening campaign will enable us to prioritize the AR-TIF2 PPI inhibitor/disruptor leads that have potential to be developed into novel therapeutics for CaP and CRPC.

HCS campaign to identify selective inhibitors of IL-6-induced STAT3 pathway activation in head and neck cancer cell lines

Signal transducer and activator of transcription factor 3 (STAT3) is hyperactivated in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). Cumulative evidence indicates that IL-6 production by HNSCC cells and/or stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment activates STAT3 and contributes to tumor progression and drug resistance. A library of 94,491 compounds from the Molecular Library Screening Center Network (MLSCN) was screened for the ability to inhibit interleukin-6 (IL-6)-induced pSTAT3 activation. For contractual reasons, the primary high-content screening (HCS) campaign was conducted over several months in 3 distinct phases; 1,068 (1.1%) primary HCS actives remained after cytotoxic or fluorescent outliers were eliminated. One thousand one hundred eighty-seven compounds were cherry-picked for confirmation; actives identified in the primary HCS and compounds selected by a structural similarity search of the remaining MLSCN library using hits identified in phases I and II of the screen. Actives were confirmed in pSTAT3 IC50 assays, and an IFNγ-induced pSTAT1 activation assay was used to prioritize selective inhibitors of STAT3 activation that would not inhibit STAT1 tumor suppressor functions. Two hundred three concentration-dependent inhibitors of IL-6-induced pSTAT3 activation were identified and 89 of these also produced IC50s against IFN-γ-induced pSTAT1 activation. Forty-nine compounds met our hit criteria: they reproducibly inhibited IL-6-induced pSTAT3 activation by ≥70% at 20 μM; their pSTAT3 activation IC50s were ≤25 μM; they were ≥2-fold selective for pSTAT3 inhibition over pSTAT1 inhibition; a cross target query of PubChem indicated that they were not biologically promiscuous; and they were ≥90% pure. Twenty-six chemically tractable hits that passed filters for nuisance compounds and had acceptable drug-like and ADME-Tox properties by computational evaluation were purchased for characterization. The hit structures were distributed among 5 clusters and 8 singletons. Twenty-four compounds inhibited IL-6-induced pSTAT3 activation with IC50s ≤20 μM and 13 were ≥3-fold selective versus inhibition of pSTAT1 activation. Eighteen hits inhibited the growth of HNSCC cell lines with average IC50s ≤ 20 μM. Four chemical series were progressed into lead optimization: the guanidinoquinazolines, the triazolothiadiazines, the amino alcohols, and an oxazole-piperazine singleton.

High-content positional biosensor screening assay for compounds to prevent or disrupt androgen receptor and transcriptional intermediary factor 2 protein-protein interactions

The androgen receptor-transcriptional intermediary factor 2 (AR-TIF2) positional protein-protein interaction (PPI) biosensor assay described herein combines physiologically relevant cell-based assays with the specificity of binding assays by incorporating structural information of AR and TIF2 functional domains along with intracellular targeting sequences and fluorescent reporters. Expression of the AR-red fluorescent protein (RFP) "prey" and TIF2-green fluorescent protein (GFP) "bait" components of the biosensor was directed by recombinant adenovirus constructs that expressed the ligand binding and activation function 2 surface domains of AR fused to RFP with nuclear localization and nuclear export sequences, and three α-helical LXXLL motifs from TIF2 fused to GFP and an HIV Rev nucleolar targeting sequence. In unstimulated cells, AR-RFP was localized predominantly to the cytoplasm and TIF2-GFP was localized to nucleoli. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) treatment induced AR-RFP translocation into the nucleus where the PPIs between AR and TIF2 resulted in the colocalization of both biosensors within the nucleolus. We adapted the translocation enhanced image analysis module to quantify the colocalization of the AR-RFP and TIF2-GFP biosensors in images acquired on the ImageXpress platform. DHT induced a concentration-dependent AR-TIF2 colocalization and produced a characteristic condensed punctate AR-RFP PPI nucleolar distribution pattern. The heat-shock protein 90 inhibitor 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) and antiandrogens flutamide and bicalutamide inhibited DHT-induced AR-TIF2 PPI formation with 50% inhibition concentrations (IC50s) of 88.5±12.5 nM, 7.6±2.4 μM, and 1.6±0.4 μM, respectively. Images of the AR-RFP distribution phenotype allowed us to distinguish between 17-AAG and flutamide, which prevented AR translocation, and bicalutamide, which blocked AR-TIF2 PPIs. We screened the Library of Pharmacologically Active Compounds (LOPAC) set for compounds that inhibited AR-TIF2 PPI formation or disrupted preexisting complexes. Eleven modulators of steroid family nuclear receptors (NRs) and 6 non-NR ligands inhibited AR-TIF2 PPI formation, and 10 disrupted preexisting complexes. The hits appear to be either AR antagonists or nonspecific inhibitors of NR activation and trafficking. Given that the LOPAC set represents such a small and restricted biological and chemical diversity, it is anticipated that screening a much larger and more diverse compound library will be required to find AR-TIF2 PPI inhibitors/disruptors. The AR-TIF2 protein-protein interaction biosensor (PPIB) approach offers significant promise for identifying molecules with potential to modulate AR transcriptional activity in a cell-specific manner that is distinct from the existing antiandrogen drugs that target AR binding or production. Small molecules that disrupt AR signaling at the level of AR-TIF2 PPIs may also overcome the development of resistance and progression to castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Development and validation of a robust and sensitive assay for the discovery of selective inhibitors for serine/threonine protein phosphatases PP1α (PPP1C) and PP5 (PPP5C)

Protein phosphatase types 1 α (PP1α/PPP1C) and 5 (PP5/PPP5C) are members of the PPP family of serine/threonine protein phosphatases. PP1 and PP5 share a common catalytic mechanism, and several natural compounds, including okadaic acid, microcystin, and cantharidin, act as strong inhibitors of both enzymes. However, to date there have been no reports of compounds that can selectively inhibit PP1 or PP5, and specific or highly selective inhibitors for either PP1 or PP5 are greatly desired by both the research and pharmaceutical communities. Here we describe the development and optimization of a sensitive and robust (representative PP5C assay data: Z'=0.93; representative PP1Cα assay data: Z'=0.90) fluorescent phosphatase assay that can be used to simultaneously screen chemical libraries and natural product extracts for the presence of catalytic inhibitors of PP1 and PP5.

In vivo structure-activity relationship studies support allosteric targeting of a dual specificity phosphatase

Dual specificity phosphatase 6 (DUSP6) functions as a feedback attenuator of fibroblast growth factor signaling during development. In vitro high throughput chemical screening attempts to discover DUSP6 inhibitors have yielded limited success. However, in vivo whole-organism screens of zebrafish identified compound 1 (BCI) as an allosteric inhibitor of DUSP6. Here we designed and synthesized a panel of analogues to define the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of DUSP6 inhibition. In vivo high-content analysis in transgenic zebrafish, coupled with cell-based chemical complementation assays, identified structural features of the pharmacophore of 1 that were essential for biological activity. In vitro assays of DUSP hyperactivation corroborated the results from in vivo and cellular SAR. The results reinforce the notion that DUSPs are druggable through allosteric mechanisms and illustrate the utility of zebrafish as a model organism for in vivo SAR analyses.

Ligand screening using enzymatic assays

An important aspect of enzymatic assays is that the effect of a ligand on enzyme activity is readily apparent and quantifiable. Enzyme-based assays are, therefore, highly amenable to high-throughput ligand screening, which profiles the effect of a panel of small molecules on a designated target. In order for enzyme assays to provide useful screening data, the kinetics, assay components, readout signal, and overall stability of the assay are optimized and adapted to the equipment prior to the screen. For the screen itself, careful consideration is given to the number of replicates, the plate layout, the compound concentration, and the details of assay assembly. Lastly, in the post-screen stages, the ligand screening data is processed and analyzed using various strategies, and the resulting preliminary hits are subjected to a series of secondary and tertiary assays to eliminate false positives and poor quality hits. The various stages of screening are described, using a viral protease, NS3/4A from Hepatitis C virus, as an example of an enzyme target.

A colorimetric assay optimization for high-throughput screening of dihydroorotase by detecting ureido groups

Dihydroorotase (DHOase) is the third enzyme in the de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway and is a potential new antibacterial drug target. No target-based high-throughput screening (HTS) assay for this enzyme has been reported to date. Here, we optimized two colorimetric-based enzymatic assays that detect the ureido moiety of the DHOase substrate, carbamyl-aspartate (Ca-asp). Each assay was developed in a 40-μl assay volume using 384-well plates with a different color mix, diacetylmonoxime (DAMO)-thiosemicarbazide (TSC) or DAMO-antipyrine. The sensitivity and color interference of both color mixes were compared in the presence of common HTS buffer additives, including dimethyl sulfoxide, reducing agents, detergents, and bovine serum albumin. DAMO-TSC (Z'-factors 0.7-0.8) was determined to be superior to DAMO-antipyrine (Z'-factors 0.5-0.6) with significantly less variability within replicates. An HTS pilot screening with 29,552 compounds from four structurally diverse libraries confirmed the quality of our newly optimized colorimetric assay with DAMO-TSC. This robust method has no heating requirement, which was the main obstacle to applying previous assays to HTS. More important, this well-optimized HTS assay for DHOase, the first of its kind, should make it possible to screen large-scale compound libraries to develop new inhibitors against any enzymes that produce ureido functional groups.

Development and validation of a high-content screening assay to identify inhibitors of cytoplasmic dynein-mediated transport of glucocorticoid receptor to the nucleus

Rapid ligand-induced trafficking of glucocorticoid nuclear hormone receptor (GR) from the cytoplasm to the nucleus is an extensively studied model for intracellular retrograde cargo transport employed in constructive morphogenesis and many other cellular functions. Unfortunately, potent and selective small-molecule disruptors of this process are lacking, which has restricted pharmacological investigations. We describe here the development and validation of a 384-well high-content screening (HCS) assay to identify inhibitors of the rapid ligand-induced retrograde translocation of cytoplasmic glucocorticoid nuclear hormone receptor green fluorescent fusion protein (GR-GFP) into the nuclei of 3617.4 mouse mammary adenocarcinoma cells. We selected 3617.4 cells, because they express GR-GFP under the control of a tetracycline (Tet)-repressible promoter and are exceptionally amenable to image acquisition and analysis procedures. Initially, we investigated the time-dependent expression of GR-GFP in 3617.4 cells under Tet-on and Tet-off control to determine the optimal conditions to measure dexamethasone (Dex)-induced GR-GFP nuclear translocation on the ArrayScan-VTI automated imaging platform. We then miniaturized the assay into a 384-well format and validated the performance of the GR-GFP nuclear translocation HCS assay in our 3-day assay signal window and dimethylsulfoxide validation tests. The molecular chaperone heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) plays an essential role in the regulation of GR steroid binding affinity and ligand-induced retrograde trafficking to the nucleus. We verified that the GR-GFP HCS assay captured the concentration-dependent inhibition of GR-GFP nuclear translocation by 17-AAG, a benzoquinone ansamycin that selectively blocks the binding and hydrolysis of ATP by Hsp90. We screened the 1280 compound library of pharmacologically active compounds set in the Dex-induced GR-GFP nuclear translocation assay and used the multi-parameter HCS data to eliminate cytotoxic compounds and fluorescent outliers. We identified five qualified hits that inhibited the rapid retrograde trafficking of GR-GFP in a concentration-dependent manner: Bay 11-7085, 4-phenyl-3-furoxancarbonitrile, parthenolide, apomorphine, and 6-nitroso-1,2-benzopyrone. The data presented here demonstrate that the GR-GFP HCS assay provides an effective phenotypic screen and support the proposition that screening a larger library of diversity compounds will yield novel small-molecule probes that will enable the further exploration of intracellular retrograde transport of cargo along microtubules, a process which is essential to the morphogenesis and function of all cells.

Reducing agents affect inhibitory activities of compounds: results from multiple drug targets

High-throughput screening (HTS) of large compound libraries has become a commonly used method for the identification of drug leads, and nonphysiological reducing agents have been widely used for HTS. However, a comparison of the difference in the HTS results based on the choice of reducing agent used and potency comparisons of selected inhibitors has not been done with the physiological reducing agent reduced glutathione (GSH). Here, we compared the effects of three reducing agents—dithiothreitol (DTT), β-mercaptoethanol (β-MCE), and tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP)—as well as GSH against three drug target proteins. Approximately 100,000 compounds were computationally screened for each target protein, and experimental testing of high-scoring compounds (∼560 compounds) with the four reducing agents surprisingly produced many nonoverlapping hits. More importantly, we found that various reducing agents altered inhibitor potency (IC₅₀) from approximately 10 μM with one reducing agent to complete loss (IC₅₀ > 200 μM) of inhibitory activity with another reducing agent. Therefore, the choice of reducing agent in an HTS is critical because this may lead to the pursuit of falsely identified active compounds or failure to identify the true active compounds. We demonstrate the feasibility of using GSH for in vitro HTS assays with these three target enzymes.

Redox cycling compounds generate H2O2 in HTS buffers containing strong reducing reagents--real hits or promiscuous artifacts?

Redox cycling compounds (RCCs) generate μM concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) in the presence of strong reducing agents, common buffer components used to maintain the catalytic activity and/or folding of target proteins for high throughput screening (HTS) assays. H(2)O(2) generated by RCCs can indirectly inhibit the catalytic activity of proteins by oxidizing accessible cysteine, tryptophan, methionine, histidine, or selenocysteine residues, and indeed several important classes of protein targets are susceptible to H(2)O(2)-mediated inactivation; protein tyrosine phosphatases, cysteine proteases, and metalloenzymes. The main sources of H(2)O(2) in cells are the Nox enzyme/SOD systems, peroxisome metabolism, and the autoxidation of reactive chemicals by enzyme mediated redox cycling at both the microsomal and mitochondrial sites of electron transport. Given the role of H(2)O(2) as a second messenger involved in the regulation of many signaling pathways it is hardly surprising that compounds that can generate intracellular H(2)O(2) by enzyme mediated redox cycling would have pleiotropic effects. RCCs can therefore have serious negative consequences for the probe and/or lead generation process: primary HTS assay hit rates may be inflated by RCC false positives; crucial resources will be diverted to develop and implement follow up assays to distinguish RCCs from real hits; and screening databases will become annotated with the promiscuous activity of RCCs. In an attempt to mitigate the serious impact of RCCs on probe and lead generation, two groups have independently developed assays to indentify RCCs.

Characterization and optimization of a novel protein-protein interaction biosensor high-content screening assay to identify disruptors of the interactions between p53 and hDM2

We present here the characterization and optimization of a novel imaging-based positional biosensor high-content screening (HCS) assay to identify disruptors of p53-hDM2 protein-protein interactions (PPIs). The chimeric proteins of the biosensor incorporated the N-terminal PPI domains of p53 and hDM2, protein targeting sequences (nuclear localization and nuclear export sequence), and fluorescent reporters, which when expressed in cells could be used to monitor p53-hDM2 PPIs through changes in the subcellular localization of the hDM2 component of the biosensor. Coinfection with the recombinant adenovirus biosensors was used to express the NH-terminal domains of p53 and hDM2, fused to green fluorescent protein and red fluorescent protein, respectively, in U-2 OS cells. We validated the p53-hDM2 PPI biosensor (PPIB) HCS assay with Nutlin-3, a compound that occupies the hydrophobic pocket on the surface of the N-terminus of hDM2 and blocks the binding interactions with the N-terminus of p53. Nutlin-3 disrupted the p53-hDM2 PPIB in a concentration-dependent manner and provided a robust, reproducible, and stable assay signal window that was compatible with HCS. The p53-hDM2 PPIB assay was readily implemented in HCS and we identified four (4) compounds in the 1,280-compound Library of Pharmacologically Active Compounds that activated the p53 signaling pathway and elicited biosensor signals that were clearly distinct from the responses of inactive compounds. Anthracycline (topoisomerase II inhibitors such as mitoxantrone and ellipticine) and camptothecin (topoisomerase I inhibitor) derivatives including topotecan induce DNA double strand breaks, which activate the p53 pathway through the ataxia telangiectasia mutated-checkpoint kinase 2 (ATM-CHK2) DNA damage response pathway. Although mitoxantrone, ellipticine, camptothecin, and topotecan all exhibited concentration-dependent disruption of the p53-hDM2 PPIB, they were much less potent than Nutlin-3. Further, their corresponding cellular images and quantitative HCS data did not completely match the Nutlin-3 phenotypic profile.

Identifying actives from HTS data sets: practical approaches for the selection of an appropriate HTS data-processing method and quality control review

High-throughput screening (HTS) has achieved a dominant role in drug discovery over the past 2 decades. The goal of HTS is to identify active compounds (hits) by screening large numbers of diverse chemical compounds against selected targets and/or cellular phenotypes. The HTS process consists of multiple automated steps involving compound handling, liquid transfers, and assay signal capture, all of which unavoidably contribute to systematic variation in the screening data. The challenge is to distinguish biologically active compounds from assay variability. Traditional plate controls-based and non-controls-based statistical methods have been widely used for HTS data processing and active identification by both the pharmaceutical industry and academic sectors. More recently, improved robust statistical methods have been introduced, reducing the impact of systematic row/column effects in HTS data. To apply such robust methods effectively and properly, we need to understand their necessity and functionality. Data from 6 HTS case histories are presented to illustrate that robust statistical methods may sometimes be misleading and can result in more, rather than less, false positives or false negatives. In practice, no single method is the best hit detection method for every HTS data set. However, to aid the selection of the most appropriate HTS data-processing and active identification methods, the authors developed a 3-step statistical decision methodology. Step 1 is to determine the most appropriate HTS data-processing method and establish criteria for quality control review and active identification from 3-day assay signal window and DMSO validation tests. Step 2 is to perform a multilevel statistical and graphical review of the screening data to exclude data that fall outside the quality control criteria. Step 3 is to apply the established active criterion to the quality-assured data to identify the active compounds.

Automated high-content live animal drug screening using C. elegans expressing the aggregation prone serpin α1-antitrypsin Z

The development of preclinical models amenable to live animal bioactive compound screening is an attractive approach to discovering effective pharmacological therapies for disorders caused by misfolded and aggregation-prone proteins. In general, however, live animal drug screening is labor and resource intensive, and has been hampered by the lack of robust assay designs and high throughput work-flows. Based on their small size, tissue transparency and ease of cultivation, the use of C. elegans should obviate many of the technical impediments associated with live animal drug screening. Moreover, their genetic tractability and accomplished record for providing insights into the molecular and cellular basis of human disease, should make C. elegans an ideal model system for in vivo drug discovery campaigns. The goal of this study was to determine whether C. elegans could be adapted to high-throughput and high-content drug screening strategies analogous to those developed for cell-based systems. Using transgenic animals expressing fluorescently-tagged proteins, we first developed a high-quality, high-throughput work-flow utilizing an automated fluorescence microscopy platform with integrated image acquisition and data analysis modules to qualitatively assess different biological processes including, growth, tissue development, cell viability and autophagy. We next adapted this technology to conduct a small molecule screen and identified compounds that altered the intracellular accumulation of the human aggregation prone mutant that causes liver disease in α1-antitrypsin deficiency. This study provides powerful validation for advancement in preclinical drug discovery campaigns by screening live C. elegans modeling α1-antitrypsin deficiency and other complex disease phenotypes on high-content imaging platforms.

Implementation of a 220,000-compound HCS campaign to identify disruptors of the interaction between p53 and hDM2 and characterization of the confirmed hits

In recent years, advances in structure-based drug design and the development of an impressive variety of high-throughput screening (HTS) assay formats have yielded an expanding list of protein-protein interaction inhibitors. Despite these advances, protein-protein interaction targets are still widely considered difficult to disrupt with small molecules. The authors present here the results from screening 220,017 compounds from the National Institute of Health's small-molecule library in a novel p53-hDM2 protein-protein interaction biosensor (PPIB) assay. The p53-hDM2 positional biosensor performed robustly and reproducibly throughout the high-content screening (HCS) campaign, and analysis of the multiparameter data from images of the 3 fluorescent channels enabled the authors to identify and eliminate compounds that were cytotoxic or fluorescent artifacts. The HCS campaign yielded 3 structurally related methylbenzo-naphthyridin-5-amine (MBNA) hits with IC(50)s between 30 and 50 microM in the p53-hDM2 PPIB. In HCT116 cells with wild-type (WT) p53, the MBNAs enhanced p53 protein levels, increased the expression of p53 target genes, caused a cell cycle arrest in G1, induced apoptosis, and inhibited cell proliferation with an IC(50) ~4 microM. The prototype disruptor of p53-hDM2 interactions Nutlin-3 was more potent than the MBNAs in the p53-hDM2 PPIB assay but produced equivalent biological results in HCT116 cells WT for p53. Unlike Nutlin-3, however, MBNAs also increased the percentage of apoptosis in p53 null cells and exhibited similar potencies for growth inhibition in isogenic cell lines null for p53 or p21. Neither the MBNAs nor Nutin-3 caused cell cycle arrest in p53 null HCT116 cells. Despite the relatively modest size of the screening library, the combination of a novel p53-hDM2 PPIB assay together with an automated imaging HCS platform and image analysis methods enabled the discovery of a novel chemotype series that disrupts p53-hDM2 interactions in cells.

Characterisation of the PTEN inhibitor VO-OHpic

PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10) is a phosphatidylinositol triphosphate 3-phosphatase that counteracts phosphoinositide 3-kinases and has subsequently been implied as a valuable drug target for diabetes and cancer. Recently, we demonstrated that VO-OHpic is an extremely potent inhibitor of PTEN with nanomolar affinity in vitro and in vivo. Given the importance of this inhibitor for future drug design and development, its mode of action needed to be elucidated. It was discovered that inhibition of recombinant PTEN by VO-OHpic is fully reversible. Both K(m) and V(max) are affected by VO-OHpic, demonstrating a noncompetitive inhibition of PTEN. The inhibition constants K(ic) and K(iu) were determined to be 27 ± 6 and 45 ± 11 nM, respectively. Using the artificial phosphatase substrate 3-O-methylfluorescein phosphate (OMFP) or the physiological substrate phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate (PIP(3)) comparable parameters were obtained suggesting that OMFP is a suitable substrate for PTEN inhibition studies and PTEN drug screening.

Profiling the NIH Small Molecule Repository for compounds that generate H2O2 by redox cycling in reducing environments

We have screened the Library of Pharmacologically Active Compounds (LOPAC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Molecule Repository (SMR) libraries in a horseradish peroxidase-phenol red (HRP-PR) H2O2 detection assay to identify redox cycling compounds (RCCs) capable of generating H2O2 in buffers containing dithiothreitol (DTT). Two RCCs were identified in the LOPAC set, the ortho-naphthoquinone beta-lapachone and the para-naphthoquinone NSC 95397. Thirty-seven (0.02%) concentration-dependent RCCs were identified from 195,826 compounds in the NIH SMR library; 3 singleton structures, 9 ortho-quinones, 2 para-quinones, 4 pyrimidotriazinediones, 15 arylsulfonamides, 2 nitrothiophene-2-carboxylates, and 2 tolyl hydrazides. Sixty percent of the ortho-quinones and 80% of the pyrimidotriazinediones in the library were confirmed as RCCs. In contrast, only 3.9% of the para-quinones were confirmed as RCCs. Fifteen of the 251 arylsulfonamides in the library were confirmed as RCCs, and since we screened 17,868 compounds with a sulfonamide functional group we conclude that the redox cycling activity of the arylsulfonamide RCCs is due to peripheral reactive enone, aromatic, or heterocyclic functions. Cross-target queries of the University of Pittsburgh Drug Discovery Institute (UPDDI) and PubChem databases revealed that the RCCs exhibited promiscuous bioactivity profiles and have populated both screening databases with significantly higher numbers of active flags than non-RCCs. RCCs were promiscuously active against protein targets known to be susceptible to oxidation, but were also active in cell growth inhibition assays, and against other targets thought to be insensitive to oxidation. Profiling compound libraries or the hits from screening campaigns in the HRP-PR H(2)O(2) detection assay significantly reduce the timelines and resources required to identify and eliminate promiscuous nuisance RCCs from the candidates for lead optimization.

Pharmacological targeting of the mitochondrial phosphatase PTPMT1

The dual-specificity protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) play integral roles in the regulation of cell signaling. There is a need for new tools to study these phosphatases, and the identification of inhibitors potentially affords not only new means for their study, but also possible therapeutics for the treatment of diseases caused by their dysregulation. However, the identification of selective inhibitors of the protein phosphatases has proven somewhat difficult. PTP localized to mitochondrion 1 (PTPMT1) is a recently discovered dual-specificity phosphatase that has been implicated in the regulation of insulin secretion. Screening of a commercially available small-molecule library yielded alexidine dihydrochloride, a dibiguanide compound, as an effective and selective inhibitor of PTPMT1 with an in vitro concentration that inhibits response by 50% of 1.08 microM. A related dibiguanide analog, chlorhexidine dihydrochloride, also significantly inhibited PTPMT1, albeit with lower potency, while a monobiguanide analog showed very weak inhibition. Treatment of isolated rat pancreatic islets with alexidine dihydrochloride resulted in a dose-dependent increase in insulin secretion, whereas treatment of a pancreatic beta-cell line with the drug affected the phosphorylation of mitochondrial proteins in a manner similar to genetic inhibition of PTPMT1. Furthermore, knockdown of PTPMT1 in rat islets rendered them insensitive to alexidine dihydrochloride treatment, providing evidence for mechanism-based activity of the inhibitor. Taken together, these studies establish alexidine dihydrochloride as an effective inhibitor of PTPMT1, both in vitro and in cells, and support the notion that PTPMT1 could serve as a pharmacological target in the treatment of type II diabetes.

Cdc25B dual-specificity phosphatase inhibitors identified in a high-throughput screen of the NIH compound library

The University of Pittsburgh Molecular Library Screening Center (Pittsburgh, PA) conducted a screen with the National Institutes of Health compound library for inhibitors of in vitro cell division cycle 25 protein (Cdc25) B activity during the pilot phase of the Molecular Library Screening Center Network. Seventy-nine (0.12%) of the 65,239 compounds screened at 10 muM met the active criterion of > or =50% inhibition of Cdc25B activity, and 25 (31.6%) of these were confirmed as Cdc25B inhibitors with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values <50 microM. Thirteen of the Cdc25B inhibitors were represented by singleton chemical structures, and 12 were divided among four clusters of related structures. Thirteen (52%) of the Cdc25B inhibitor hits were quinone-based structures. The Cdc25B inhibitors were further characterized in a series of in vitro secondary assays to confirm their activity, to determine their phosphatase selectivity against two other dual-specificity phosphatases, mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase (MKP)-1 and MKP-3, and to examine if the mechanism of Cdc25B inhibition involved oxidation and inactivation. Nine Cdc25B inhibitors did not appear to affect Cdc25B through a mechanism involving oxidation because they did not generate detectable amounts of H(2)O(2) in the presence of dithiothreitol, and their Cdc25B IC(50) values were not significantly affected by exchanging the dithiothreitol for beta-mercaptoethanol or reduced glutathione or by adding catalase to the assay. Six of the nonoxidative hits were selective for Cdc25B inhibition versus MKP-1 and MKP-3, but only the two bisfuran-containing hits, PubChem substance identifiers 4258795 and 4260465, significantly inhibited the growth of human MBA-MD-435 breast and PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines. To confirm the structure and biological activity of 4260465, the compound was resynthesized along with two analogs. Neither of the substitutions to the two analogs was tolerated, and only the resynthesized hit 26683752 inhibited Cdc25B activity in vitro (IC(50) = 13.83 +/- 1.0 microM) and significantly inhibited the growth of the MBA-MD-435 breast and PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines (IC(50) = 20.16 +/- 2.0 microM and 24.87 +/- 2.25 microM, respectively). The two bis-furan-containing hits identified in the screen represent novel nonoxidative Cdc25B inhibitor chemotypes that block tumor cell proliferation. The availability of non-redox active Cdc25B inhibitors should provide valuable tools to explore the inhibition of the Cdc25 phosphatases as potential mono- or combination therapies for cancer.

Development of a 384-well colorimetric assay to quantify hydrogen peroxide generated by the redox cycling of compounds in the presence of reducing agents

We report here the development and optimization of a simple 384-well colorimetric assay to measure H(2)O(2) generated by the redox cycling of compounds incubated with reducing agents in high-throughput screening (HTS) assay buffers. The phenol red-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) assay readily detected H(2)O(2) either added exogenously or generated by the redox cycling of compounds in dithiothreitol (DTT). The generation of H(2)O(2) was dependent on the concentration of both the compound and DTT and was abolished by catalase. Although both DTT and tris(2-carboxyethyl) phosphine sustain the redox cycling generation of H(2)O(2) by a model quinolinedione, 6-chloro-7-(2-morpholin-4-yl-ethylamino)-quinoline-5,8-dione (NSC 663284; DA3003-1), other reducing agents such as beta-mercaptoethanol, glutathione, and cysteine do not. The assay is compatible with HTS. Once terminated, the assay signal was stable for at least 5 h, allowing for a reasonable throughput. The assay tolerated up to 20% dimethyl sulfoxide, allowing a wide range of compound concentrations to be tested. The assay signal window was robust and reproducible with average Z-factors of > or =0.8, and the redox cycling generation of H(2)O(2) by DA3003-1 in DTT exhibited an average 50% effective concentration of 0.830 +/- 0.068 microM. Five of the mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase (MKP) 1 inhibitors identified in an HTS were shown to generate H(2)O(2) in the presence of DTT, and their inhibition of MKP-1 activity was shown to be time dependent and was abolished or significantly reduced by either 100 U of catalase or by higher DTT levels. A cross-target query of the PubChem database with three structurally related pyrimidotriazinediones revealed active flags in 36-39% of the primary screening assays. Activity was confirmed against a number of targets containing active site cysteines, including protein tyrosine phosphatases, cathepsins, and caspases, as well as a number of cellular cytotoxicity assays. Rather than utilize resources to conduct a hit characterization effort involving several secondary assays, the phenol red-HRP assay provides a simple, rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive method to identify compounds that redox cycle in DTT or tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine to produce H(2)O(2) that may indirectly modulate target activity and represent promiscuous false-positives from a primary screen.

A cell-active inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatases restores paclitaxel-induced apoptosis in dexamethasone-protected cancer cells

Mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase (MKP)-1 is a dual-specificity phosphatase that negatively regulates the activity of mitogen-activated kinases and that is overexpressed in human tumors. Contemporary studies suggest that induction of MKP-1 during chemotherapy may limit the efficacy of clinically used antineoplastic agents. Thus, MKP-1 is a rational target to enhance anticancer drug activity, but suitable small-molecule inhibitors of MKP-1 are currently unavailable. Here, we have used a high-content, multiparameter fluorescence-based chemical complementation assay for MKP activity in intact mammalian cells to evaluate the cellular MKP-1 and MKP-3 inhibitory activities of four previously described, quinone-based, dual-specificity phosphatase inhibitors, that is, NSC 672121, NSC 95397, DA-3003-1 (NSC 663284), and JUN-1111. All compounds induced formation of reactive oxygen species in mammalian cells, but only one (NSC 95397) inhibited cellular MKP-1 and MKP-3 with an IC(50) of 13 mumol/L. Chemical induction of MKP-1 by dexamethasone protected cells from paclitaxel-induced apoptosis but had no effect on NSC 95397. NSC 95397 phenocopied the effects of MKP-1 small inhibitory RNA by reversing the cytoprotective effects of dexamethasone in paclitaxel-treated cells. Isobologram analysis revealed synergism between paclitaxel and NSC 95397 only in the presence of dexamethasone. The data show the power of a well-defined cellular assay for identifying cell-active inhibitors of MKPs and support the hypothesis that small-molecule inhibitors of MKP-1 may be useful as antineoplastic agents under conditions of high MKP-1 expression.

Development, validation and implementation of immobilized metal affinity for phosphochemicals (IMAP)-based high-throughput screening assays for low-molecular-weight compound libraries

This protocol describes assay development, validation and implementation of automated immobilized metal affinity for phosphochemicals (IMAP)-based fluorescence polarization (FP) and time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) high-throughput screening (HTS) assays for identification of low-molecular-weight kinase inhibitors. Both procedures are performed in miniaturized kinase reaction volumes and involve the stepwise addition of test or control compounds, enzyme and substrate/ATP. Kinase reactions are stopped by subsequent addition of IMAP-binding buffer. Assay attributes of the IMAP FP and TR-FRET methodologies are described. HTS assays developed using these procedures should result in Z-factors and low assay variability necessary for robust HTS assays. Providing that the required reagents and equipment are available, one scientist should be able to develop a 384-well, miniaturized HTS assay in approximately 6-8 weeks. Specific automated HTS assay conditions will determine the number of assay plates processed in a screening session, but two scientists should expect to process between 100 and 150 assay plates in one 8-h screening day.