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Cheuka PM. Drug Discovery and Target Identification against Schistosomiasis: a Reality Check on Progress and Future Prospects. Curr Top Med Chem 2021; 22:1595-1610. [PMID: 34565320 DOI: 10.2174/1568026621666210924101805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Schistosomiasis ranks among the most important infectious diseases, with over 200 million people currently being infected and > 280,000 deaths reported annually. Chemotherapeutic treatment has relied on one drug, praziquantel, for four decades, while other drugs, such as oxamniquine and metrifonate, are no longer preferred for clinical use due to their narrow spectrum of activity - these are only active against S. mansoni and S. haematobium, respectively. Despite being cheap, safe, and effective against all schistosome species, praziquantel is ineffective against immature worms, which may lead to reinfections and treatment failure in endemic areas; a situation that necessitates repeated administration besides other limitations. Therefore, novel drugs are urgently needed to overcome this situation. In this paper, an up to date review of drug targets identified and validated against schistosomiasis while also encompassing promising clinical and preclinical candidate drugs is presented. While there are considerable efforts aimed at identifying and validating drug targets, the pipeline for new antischistosomals is dry. Moreover, the majority of compounds evaluated preclinically are not really advanced because most of them were evaluated in very small preclinical species such as mice alone. Overall, it appears that although a lot of research is going on at discovery phases, unfortunately, it does not translate to advanced preclinical and clinical evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Mubanga Cheuka
- Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, University of Zambia, Lusaka. Zambia
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2
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Gryaznova Y, Koca Caydasi A, Malengo G, Sourjik V, Pereira G. A FRET-based study reveals site-specific regulation of spindle position checkpoint proteins at yeast centrosomes. eLife 2016; 5. [PMID: 27159239 PMCID: PMC4878874 DOI: 10.7554/elife.14029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2015] [Accepted: 05/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The spindle position checkpoint (SPOC) is a spindle pole body (SPB, equivalent of mammalian centrosome) associated surveillance mechanism that halts mitotic exit upon spindle mis-orientation. Here, we monitored the interaction between SPB proteins and the SPOC component Bfa1 by FRET microscopy. We show that Bfa1 binds to the scaffold-protein Nud1 and the γ-tubulin receptor Spc72. Spindle misalignment specifically disrupts Bfa1-Spc72 interaction by a mechanism that requires the 14-3-3-family protein Bmh1 and the MARK/PAR-kinase Kin4. Dissociation of Bfa1 from Spc72 prevents the inhibitory phosphorylation of Bfa1 by the polo-like kinase Cdc5. We propose Spc72 as a regulatory hub that coordinates the activity of Kin4 and Cdc5 towards Bfa1. In addition, analysis of spc72∆ cells shows that a mitotic-exit-promoting dominant signal, which is triggered upon elongation of the spindle into the bud, overrides the SPOC. Our data reinforce the importance of daughter-cell-associated factors and centrosome-based regulations in mitotic exit and SPOC control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuliya Gryaznova
- DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Ayse Koca Caydasi
- DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.,Centre for Organismal Studies, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Gabriele Malengo
- DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Centre for Molecular Biology, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Victor Sourjik
- DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Centre for Molecular Biology, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Gislene Pereira
- DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.,Centre for Organismal Studies, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
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Long T, Neitz RJ, Beasley R, Kalyanaraman C, Suzuki BM, Jacobson MP, Dissous C, McKerrow JH, Drewry DH, Zuercher WJ, Singh R, Caffrey CR. Structure-Bioactivity Relationship for Benzimidazole Thiophene Inhibitors of Polo-Like Kinase 1 (PLK1), a Potential Drug Target in Schistosoma mansoni. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2016; 10:e0004356. [PMID: 26751972 PMCID: PMC4709140 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2015] [Accepted: 12/13/2015] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Schistosoma flatworm parasites cause schistosomiasis, a chronic and debilitating disease of poverty in developing countries. Praziquantel is employed for treatment and disease control. However, its efficacy spectrum is incomplete (less active or inactive against immature stages of the parasite) and there is a concern of drug resistance. Thus, there is a need to identify new drugs and drug targets. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We show that RNA interference (RNAi) of the Schistosoma mansoni ortholog of human polo-like kinase (huPLK)1 elicits a deleterious phenotypic alteration in post-infective larvae (schistosomula or somules). Phenotypic screening and analysis of schistosomula and adult S. mansoni with small molecule inhibitors of huPLK1 identified a number of potent anti-schistosomals. Among these was a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) benzimidazole thiophene inhibitor that has completed Phase I clinical trials for treatment of solid tumor malignancies. We then obtained GSKs Published Kinase Inhibitor Sets (PKIS) 1 and 2, and phenotypically screened an expanded series of 38 benzimidazole thiophene PLK1 inhibitors. Computational analysis of controls and PLK1 inhibitor-treated populations of somules demonstrated a distinctive phenotype distribution. Using principal component analysis (PCA), the phenotypes exhibited by these populations were mapped, visualized and analyzed through projection to a low-dimensional space. The phenotype distribution was found to have a distinct shape and topology, which could be elicited using cluster analysis. A structure-activity relationship (SAR) was identified for the benzimidazole thiophenes that held for both somules and adult parasites. The most potent inhibitors produced marked phenotypic alterations at 1-2 μM within 1 h. Among these were compounds previously characterized as potent inhibitors of huPLK1 in cell assays. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE The reverse genetic and chemical SAR data support a continued investigation of SmPLK1 as a possible drug target and/or the prosecution of the benzimidazole thiophene chemotype as a source of novel anti-schistosomals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thavy Long
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - R. Jeffrey Neitz
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Small Molecule Discovery Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Rachel Beasley
- Department of Computer Science, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Chakrapani Kalyanaraman
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Brian M. Suzuki
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Matthew P. Jacobson
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Colette Dissous
- Center of Infection and Immunity of Lille, Université Lille Nord de France, Inserm U1019, CNRS-UMR 8204, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Lille, France
| | - James H. McKerrow
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - David H. Drewry
- Department of Chemical Biology, GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - William J. Zuercher
- Department of Chemical Biology, GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Rahul Singh
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Computer Science, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Conor R. Caffrey
- Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
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Bibi N, Parveen Z, Rashid S. Identification of potential Plk1 targets in a cell-cycle specific proteome through structural dynamics of kinase and Polo box-mediated interactions. PLoS One 2013; 8:e70843. [PMID: 23967120 PMCID: PMC3744538 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2013] [Accepted: 06/23/2013] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Polo like kinase 1 (Plk1) is a key player in orchestrating the wide variety of cell-cycle events ranging from centrosome maturation, mitotic entry, checkpoint recovery, transcriptional control, spindle assembly, mitotic progression, cytokinesis and DNA damage checkpoints recovery. Due to its versatile nature, Plk1 is considered an imperative regulator to tightly control the diverse aspects of the cell cycle network. Interactions among Plk1 polo box domain (PBD) and its putative binding proteins are crucial for the activation of Plk1 kinase domain (KD). To date, only a few substrate candidates have been characterized through the inclusion of both polo box and kinase domain-mediated interactions. Thus it became compelling to explore precise and specific Plk1 substrates through reassessment and extension of the structure-function paradigm. To narrow this apparently wide gap in knowledge, here we employed a thorough sequence search of Plk1 phosphorylation signature containing proteins and explored their structure-based features like conceptual PBD-binding capabilities and subsequent recruitment of KD directed phosphorylation to dissect novel targets of Plk1. Collectively, we identified 4,521 phosphodependent proteins sharing similarity to the consensus phosphorylation and PBD recognition motifs. Subsequent application of filters including similarity index, Gene Ontology enrichment and protein localization resulted in stringent pre-filtering of irrelevant candidates and isolated unique targets with well-defined roles in cell-cycle machinery and carcinogenesis. These candidates were further refined structurally using molecular docking and dynamic simulation assays. Overall, our screening approach enables the identification of several undefined cell-cycle associated functions of Plk1 by uncovering novel phosphorylation targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nousheen Bibi
- National Center for Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Zahida Parveen
- National Center for Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Sajid Rashid
- National Center for Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
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