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Kumar Sharma A, Sharma R, Dev Sarma H, Mukherjee A, Das T, Satpati D. Design, synthesis and evaluation of 177Lu-labeled inverso and retro-inverso A9 peptide variants targeting HER2-overexpression. Bioorg Chem 2023; 140:106761. [PMID: 37586132 DOI: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2023.106761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 07/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Several HER2-specific peptides are being continuously explored to find a candidate with suitable pharmacokinetic properties for development of effective radiopharmaceutical that can find applications for clinical screening of breast cancer patients. In the present work with an aim of preparing a radiopeptide with improved metabolic stability and in vivo pharmacokinetic performance we modified our previously reported [177Lu]DOTA-L-A9 peptide. Here we designed an 'inverso' peptide with all d-amino acids and a 'retro-inverso' peptide where sequence of d-amino acids was reversed. Higher secondary structure stabilization of retro- inverso A9 variant compared to inverso A9 peptide was evident by circular dichroism studies. The two radiopeptides [177Lu]DOTA-D-A9 and [177Lu]DOTA-rD-A9 exhibited significantly improved in vivo metabolic stability over the original l-peptide. The retro-inverso variant, [177Lu]DOTA-rD-A9 demonstrated better pharmacokinetic behavior with significantly higher tumor uptake than the inverso peptide, [177Lu]DOTA-D-A9 and the original peptide, [177Lu]DOTA-L-A9. In the present case of A9 peptide, reversal of the peptide sequence of d-amino acids boosted the uptake and retention of radioactivity in HER2-positive tumor. The present study can thus guide the design and development of newer and improved versions of peptides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit Kumar Sharma
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India; Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
| | - Rohit Sharma
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India; Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
| | - Haladhar Dev Sarma
- Radiation Biology and Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India
| | - Archana Mukherjee
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India; Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
| | - Tapas Das
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India; Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
| | - Drishty Satpati
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India; Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India.
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Sharma AK, Sharma R, Das A, Chakraborty A, Rakshit S, Sarma HD, Mukherjee A, Das T, Satpati D. Synthesis and 177Lu Labeling of the First Retro Analog of the HER2-Targeting A9 Peptide: A Superior Variant. Bioconjug Chem 2023; 34:1576-1584. [PMID: 37379455 DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.3c00265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/30/2023]
Abstract
The retro analog of the HER2-targeting A9 peptide was synthesized by coupling amino acids in a reverse fashion and switching the N-terminal in the original sequence of the L-A9 peptide (QDVNTAVAW) to the C-terminal in rL-A9 (WAVATNVDQ). Modification in the backbone resulted in higher conformational stability of the retro peptide as evident from CD spectra. Molecular docking analysis revealed a higher HER2 binding affinity of [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-rL-A9 than the original radiopeptide [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-L-A9. Enormously enhanced metabolic stability of the retro analog led to significant elevation in tumor uptake and retention. SPECT imaging studies corroborated biodistribution results demonstrating a remarkably higher tumor signal for [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-rL-A9. The presently studied retro probe has promising efficiency for clinical screening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit Kumar Sharma
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Rohit Sharma
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Amit Das
- Radiation Biology and Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Avik Chakraborty
- Radiation Medicine Centre, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400012, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Sutapa Rakshit
- Radiation Medicine Centre, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400012, India
| | - Haladhar Dev Sarma
- Radiation Biology and Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400085, India
| | - Archana Mukherjee
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Tapas Das
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai 400094, India
| | - Drishty Satpati
- Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai 400094, India
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Case M, Navaratna T, Vinh J, Thurber G. Rapid Evaluation of Staple Placement in Stabilized α Helices Using Bacterial Surface Display. ACS Chem Biol 2023; 18:905-914. [PMID: 37039514 PMCID: PMC10773984 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.3c00048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/12/2023]
Abstract
There are a wealth of proteins involved in disease that cannot be targeted by current therapeutics because they are inside cells, inaccessible to most macromolecules, and lack small-molecule binding pockets. Stapled peptides, where two amino acids are covalently linked, form a class of macrocycles that have the potential to penetrate cell membranes and disrupt intracellular protein-protein interactions. However, their discovery relies on solid-phase synthesis, greatly limiting queries into their complex design space involving amino acid sequence, staple location, and staple chemistry. Here, we use stabilized peptide engineering by Escherichia coli display (SPEED), which utilizes noncanonical amino acids and click chemistry for stabilization, to rapidly screen staple location and linker structure to accelerate peptide design. After using SPEED to confirm hotspots in the mdm2-p53 interaction, we evaluated different staple locations and staple chemistry to identify several novel nanomolar and sub-nanomolar antagonists. Next, we evaluated SPEED in the B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) protein family, which is responsible for regulating apoptosis. We report that novel staple locations modified in the context of BIM, a high affinity but nonspecific naturally occurring peptide, improve its specificity against the highly homologous proteins in the Bcl-2 family. These compounds demonstrate the importance of screening linker location and chemistry in identifying high affinity and specific peptide antagonists. Therefore, SPEED can be used as a versatile platform to evaluate multiple design criteria for stabilized peptide engineering.
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Li Q, Cebrián R, Montalbán-López M, Ren H, Wu W, Kuipers OP. Outer-membrane-acting peptides and lipid II-targeting antibiotics cooperatively kill Gram-negative pathogens. Commun Biol 2021; 4:31. [PMID: 33398076 PMCID: PMC7782785 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01511-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The development and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens is a growing global threat to public health. Novel compounds and/or therapeutic strategies are required to face the challenge posed, in particular, by Gram-negative bacteria. Here we assess the combined effect of potent cell-wall synthesis inhibitors with either natural or synthetic peptides that can act on the outer-membrane. Thus, several linear peptides, either alone or combined with vancomycin or nisin, were tested against selected Gram-negative pathogens, and the best one was improved by further engineering. Finally, peptide D-11 and vancomycin displayed a potent antimicrobial activity at low μM concentrations against a panel of relevant Gram-negative pathogens. This combination was highly active in biological fluids like blood, but was non-hemolytic and non-toxic against cell lines. We conclude that vancomycin and D-11 are safe at >50-fold their MICs. Based on the results obtained, and as a proof of concept for the newly observed synergy, a Pseudomonas aeruginosa mouse infection model experiment was also performed, showing a 4 log10 reduction of the pathogen after treatment with the combination. This approach offers a potent alternative strategy to fight (drug-resistant) Gram-negative pathogens in humans and mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Li
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Department of Molecular Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands ,grid.34418.3a0000 0001 0727 9022Present Address: State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, Hubei Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, 430062 Wuhan, China
| | - Rubén Cebrián
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Department of Molecular Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Manuel Montalbán-López
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Department of Molecular Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands ,grid.4489.10000000121678994Present Address: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Av. Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Huan Ren
- grid.216938.70000 0000 9878 7032State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology of the Ministry of Education, Department of Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 30071 Tianjin, China
| | - Weihui Wu
- grid.216938.70000 0000 9878 7032State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology of the Ministry of Education, Department of Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 30071 Tianjin, China
| | - Oscar P. Kuipers
- grid.4830.f0000 0004 0407 1981Department of Molecular Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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Yu R, Liu H, Wang B, Harvey PJ, Wei N, Chu Y. Synthesis and biological activity study of the retro-isomer of RhTx against TRPV1. RSC Adv 2020; 10:2141-2145. [PMID: 35494567 PMCID: PMC9048425 DOI: 10.1039/c9ra08829f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2019] [Accepted: 01/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
TRPV1 is a ligand-gated ion channel and plays an important role in detecting noxious heat and pain with an unknown mechanism. RhTx from Chinese red-headed centipede activates the TRPV1 channel through the heat activation pathway by binding to the outer pore region, and causes extreme pain. Here, we synthesized RhTx and its retro-isomer RL-RhTx. Their structures were investigated by their circular dichroic spectra and NMR spectra. The effect of RhTx and RL-RhTx on the currents of wild-type and mutants of TRPV1 indicated that RL-RhTx have comparable TRPV1 activation responses to RhTx. A mutagenesis study showed that four TRPV1 residues, including Leu461, Asp602, Tyr632 and Thr634, significantly contributed to the activation effects of RL-RhTx and RhTx, and both peptides probably bind with TRPV1 in similar binding modes. As a novel TRPV1 activator, RL-RhTx provides an essential powerful tool for the investigation of activation mechanisms of TRPV1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rilei Yu
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China Qingdao 266003 China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts of Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology Qingdao 266003 China
| | - Huijie Liu
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Qingdao University Qingdao 266021 China
| | - Baishi Wang
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China Qingdao 266003 China
| | - Peta J Harvey
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland Brisbane QLD 4072 Australia
| | - Ningning Wei
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Qingdao University Qingdao 266021 China
| | - Yanyan Chu
- Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China Qingdao 266003 China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts of Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology Qingdao 266003 China
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Rai J. Peptide and protein mimetics by retro and retroinverso analogs. Chem Biol Drug Des 2019; 93:724-736. [PMID: 30582286 DOI: 10.1111/cbdd.13472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2018] [Revised: 12/10/2018] [Accepted: 12/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Retroinverso analog of a natural polypeptide can sometimes mimic the structure and function of the natural peptide. The additional advantage of using retroinverso analog is that it is resistant to proteolysis. The retroinverso analogs have peptide sequence in reverse direction with respect to natural peptide and also have chirality of amino acid inverted from L to D. The D amino acids cannot be recognized by common proteases of the body; therefore, these peptides will not be degraded easily and have a longer-lasting effect as vaccine and inhibitor drugs. There have been many contested propositions about the geometric relationship between a peptide and its retro, inverso, or retroinverso analog. A retroinverso analog sometimes fails to adopt the structure that can mimic the function of the natural peptide. In such cases, partial retroinverso analog and other modifications can help in achieving the desired structure and function. Here, we review the theory, major experimental attempts, prediction methods, and alternative strategies related to retroinverso peptidomimetics.
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Robertson NS, Spring DR. Using Peptidomimetics and Constrained Peptides as Valuable Tools for Inhibiting Protein⁻Protein Interactions. Molecules 2018; 23:molecules23040959. [PMID: 29671834 PMCID: PMC6017787 DOI: 10.3390/molecules23040959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Revised: 04/16/2018] [Accepted: 04/18/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Protein–protein interactions (PPIs) are tremendously important for the function of many biological processes. However, because of the structure of many protein–protein interfaces (flat, featureless and relatively large), they have largely been overlooked as potential drug targets. In this review, we highlight the current tools used to study the molecular recognition of PPIs through the use of different peptidomimetics, from small molecules and scaffolds to peptides. Then, we focus on constrained peptides, and in particular, ways to constrain α-helices through stapling using both one- and two-component techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naomi S Robertson
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK.
| | - David R Spring
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK.
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Thurston BA, Tovar JD, Ferguson AL. Thermodynamics, morphology, and kinetics of early-stage self-assembly of π-conjugated oligopeptides. MOLECULAR SIMULATION 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/08927022.2015.1125997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Bryce A. Thurston
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - John D. Tovar
- Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Institute of NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Andrew L. Ferguson
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
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Abstract
Interactions between polypeptide chains containing amino acid residues with opposite absolute configurations have long been a source of interest and speculation, but there is very little structural information for such heterochiral associations. The need to address this lacuna has grown in recent years because of increasing interest in the use of peptides generated from d amino acids (d peptides) as specific ligands for natural proteins, e.g., to inhibit deleterious protein-protein interactions. Coiled-coil interactions, between or among α-helices, represent the most common tertiary and quaternary packing motif in proteins. Heterochiral coiled-coil interactions were predicted over 50 years ago by Crick, and limited experimental data obtained in solution suggest that such interactions can indeed occur. To address the dearth of atomic-level structural characterization of heterochiral helix pairings, we report two independent crystal structures that elucidate coiled-coil packing between l- and d-peptide helices. Both structures resulted from racemic crystallization of a peptide corresponding to the transmembrane segment of the influenza M2 protein. Networks of canonical knobs-into-holes side-chain packing interactions are observed at each helical interface. However, the underlying patterns for these heterochiral coiled coils seem to deviate from the heptad sequence repeat that is characteristic of most homochiral analogs, with an apparent preference for a hendecad repeat pattern.
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