1
|
Kuncewicz K, Bojko M, Battin C, Karczyńska A, Sieradzan A, Sikorska E, Węgrzyn K, Wojciechowicz K, Wardowska A, Steinberger P, Rodziewicz-Motowidło S, Spodzieja M. BTLA-derived peptides as inhibitors of BTLA/HVEM complex formation - design, synthesis and biological evaluation. Biomed Pharmacother 2023; 165:115161. [PMID: 37473684 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2023.115161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Immune checkpoints can be divided into co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory molecules that regulate the activation and effector functions of T cells. The co-inhibitory pathways mediated by ICPs are used by cancer cells to escape from immune surveillance, and therefore the blockade of these receptor/ligand interactions is one of the strategies used in the treatment of cancer. The two main pathways currently under investigation are CTLA-4/CD80/CD86 and PD-1/PD-L1, and the monoclonal Abs targeting them have shown potent immunomodulatory effects and activity in clinical environments. Another interesting target in cancer treatment is the BTLA/HVEM complex. Binding of BTLA protein on T cells to HVEM on cancer cells leads to inhibition of T cell proliferation and cytokine production. In the presented work, we focused on blocking the HVEM protein using BTLA-derived peptides. Based on the crystal structure of the BTLA/HVEM complex and MM/GBSA analysis performed here, we designed and synthesized peptides, specifically fragments of BTLA protein. We subsequently checked the inhibitory capacities of these compounds using ELISA and a cellular reporter platform. Two of these peptides, namely BTLA(35-43) and BTLA(33-64)C58Abu displayed the most promising properties, and we therefore performed further studies to evaluate their affinity to HVEM protein, their stability in plasma and their effect on viability of human PBMCs. In addition, the 3D structure for the peptide BTLA(33-64)C58Abu was determined using NMR. Obtained data confirmed that the BTLA-derived peptides could be the basis for future drugs and their immunomodulatory potential merits further examination.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Kuncewicz
- University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Chemistry, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Magdalena Bojko
- University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Chemistry, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Claire Battin
- Medical University of Vienna, Institute of Immunology, Division of Immune Receptors and T cell Activation, Lazarettgasse 19, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Agnieszka Karczyńska
- University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Chemistry, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Adam Sieradzan
- University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Chemistry, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Emilia Sikorska
- University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Chemistry, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Węgrzyn
- University of Gdańsk, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology of the University of Gdańsk and the Medical University of Gdańsk, Abrahama 58, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Karolina Wojciechowicz
- Medical University of Gdańsk, Department of Physiopathology, Dębinki 7, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Anna Wardowska
- Medical University of Gdańsk, Department of Physiopathology, Dębinki 7, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Peter Steinberger
- Medical University of Vienna, Institute of Immunology, Division of Immune Receptors and T cell Activation, Lazarettgasse 19, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Marta Spodzieja
- University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Chemistry, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Liwo A, Czaplewski C, Sieradzan AK, Lubecka EA, Lipska AG, Golon Ł, Karczyńska A, Krupa P, Mozolewska MA, Makowski M, Ganzynkowicz R, Giełdoń A, Maciejczyk M. Scale-consistent approach to the derivation of coarse-grained force fields for simulating structure, dynamics, and thermodynamics of biopolymers. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci 2020; 170:73-122. [PMID: 32145953 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2019.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
In this chapter the scale-consistent approach to the derivation of coarse-grained force fields developed in our laboratory is presented, in which the effective energy function originates from the potential of mean force of the system under consideration and embeds atomistically detailed interactions in the resulting energy terms through use of Kubo's cluster-cumulant expansion, appropriate selection of the major degrees of freedom to be averaged out in the derivation of analytical approximations to the energy terms, and appropriate expression of the interaction energies at the all-atom level in these degrees of freedom. Our approach enables the developers to find correct functional forms of the effective coarse-grained energy terms, without having to import them from all-atom force fields or deriving them on a heuristic basis. In particular, the energy terms derived in such a way exhibit correct dependence on coarse-grained geometry, in particular on site orientation. Moreover, analytical formulas for the multibody (correlation) terms, which appear to be crucial for coarse-grained modeling of many of the regular structures such as, e.g., protein α-helices and β-sheets, can be derived in a systematic way. Implementation of the developed theory to the UNIfied COarse-gRaiNed (UNICORN) model of biological macromolecules, which consists of the UNRES (for proteins), NARES-2P (for nucleic acids), and SUGRES-1P (for polysaccharides) components, and is being developed in our laboratory is described. Successful applications of UNICORN to the prediction of protein structure, simulating the folding and stability of proteins and nucleic acids, and solving biological problems are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adam Liwo
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland; School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | | | - Adam K Sieradzan
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland; School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Emilia A Lubecka
- Institute of Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Informatics, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | | | - Łukasz Golon
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | | | - Paweł Krupa
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | | | | | - Artur Giełdoń
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Maciej Maciejczyk
- Department of Physics and Biophysics, Faculty of Food Science, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Spodzieja M, Kuncewicz K, Sieradzan A, Karczyńska A, Iwaszkiewicz J, Cesson V, Węgrzyn K, Zhukov I, Maszota-Zieleniak M, Michielin O, Speiser DE, Zoete V, Derré L, Rodziewicz-Motowidło S. Disulfide-Linked Peptides for Blocking BTLA/HVEM Binding. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:ijms21020636. [PMID: 31963646 PMCID: PMC7013932 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21020636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Revised: 01/15/2020] [Accepted: 01/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Immune checkpoints are crucial in the maintenance of antitumor immune responses. The activation or blockade of immune checkpoints is dependent on the interactions between receptors and ligands; such interactions can provide inhibitory or stimulatory signals, including the enhancement or suppression of T-cell proliferation, differentiation, and/or cytokine secretion. B-and T-lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is a lymphoid-specific cell surface receptor which is present on T-cells and interacts with herpes virus entry mediator (HVEM), which is present on tumor cells. The binding of HVEM to BTLA triggers an inhibitory signal which attenuates the immune response. This feature is interesting for studying the molecular interactions between HVEM and BTLA, as they may be targeted for novel immunotherapies. This work was based on the crystal structure of the BTLA/HVEM complex showing that BTLA binds the N-terminal cysteine-rich domain of HVEM. We investigated the amino acid sequence of HVEM and used molecular modeling methods to develop inhibitors of the BTLA/HVEM interaction. We synthesized novel compounds and determined their ability to interact with the BTLA protein and inhibit the formation of the BTLA/HVEM complex. Our results suggest that the HVEM (14-39) peptide is a potent inhibitor of the formation of the BTLA/HVEM protein complex.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marta Spodzieja
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80–308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.S.); (K.K.); (A.S.); (A.K.); (M.M.-Z.)
| | - Katarzyna Kuncewicz
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80–308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.S.); (K.K.); (A.S.); (A.K.); (M.M.-Z.)
| | - Adam Sieradzan
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80–308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.S.); (K.K.); (A.S.); (A.K.); (M.M.-Z.)
| | - Agnieszka Karczyńska
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80–308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.S.); (K.K.); (A.S.); (A.K.); (M.M.-Z.)
| | - Justyna Iwaszkiewicz
- SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge, Bâtiment Amphipole, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; (J.I.); (O.M.); (V.Z.)
| | - Valérie Cesson
- Urology Research Unit, Urology Department, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland;
| | - Katarzyna Węgrzyn
- Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG&MUG, University of Gdansk, Abrahama 58, 80–308 Gdańsk, Poland;
| | - Igor Zhukov
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5a, 02–106 Warszawa, Poland;
- NanoBioMedical Center, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 85, 61–614 Poznań, Poland
| | - Martyna Maszota-Zieleniak
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80–308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.S.); (K.K.); (A.S.); (A.K.); (M.M.-Z.)
| | - Olivier Michielin
- SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge, Bâtiment Amphipole, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; (J.I.); (O.M.); (V.Z.)
- Department of Oncology, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Ludwig Cancer Research—Lausanne Branch, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Daniel E. Speiser
- Department of Oncology, University of Lausanne, Ch. des Boveresses 155, CH-1066 Lausanne, Switzerland;
| | - Vincent Zoete
- SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge, Bâtiment Amphipole, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; (J.I.); (O.M.); (V.Z.)
- Department of Fundamental Oncology, Lausanne University, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Route de la Corniche 9A, CH-1066 Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Laurent Derré
- Urology Research Unit, Urology Department, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland;
- Correspondence: (L.D.); (S.R.-M.)
| | - Sylwia Rodziewicz-Motowidło
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80–308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.S.); (K.K.); (A.S.); (A.K.); (M.M.-Z.)
- Correspondence: (L.D.); (S.R.-M.)
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Czaplewski C, Karczyńska A, Sieradzan AK, Liwo A. UNRES server for physics-based coarse-grained simulations and prediction of protein structure, dynamics and thermodynamics. Nucleic Acids Res 2018; 46:W304-W309. [PMID: 29718313 PMCID: PMC6031057 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gky328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Revised: 04/12/2018] [Accepted: 04/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
A server implementation of the UNRES package (http://www.unres.pl) for coarse-grained simulations of protein structures with the physics-based UNRES model, coined a name UNRES server, is presented. In contrast to most of the protein coarse-grained models, owing to its physics-based origin, the UNRES force field can be used in simulations, including those aimed at protein-structure prediction, without ancillary information from structural databases; however, the implementation includes the possibility of using restraints. Local energy minimization, canonical molecular dynamics simulations, replica exchange and multiplexed replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations can be run with the current UNRES server; the latter are suitable for protein-structure prediction. The user-supplied input includes protein sequence and, optionally, restraints from secondary-structure prediction or small x-ray scattering data, and simulation type and parameters which are selected or typed in. Oligomeric proteins, as well as those containing D-amino-acid residues and disulfide links can be treated. The output is displayed graphically (minimized structures, trajectories, final models, analysis of trajectory/ensembles); however, all output files can be downloaded by the user. The UNRES server can be freely accessed at http://unres-server.chem.ug.edu.pl.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cezary Czaplewski
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Agnieszka Karczyńska
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Adam K Sieradzan
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Adam Liwo
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Krupa P, Mozolewska MA, Wiśniewska M, Yin Y, He Y, Sieradzan AK, Ganzynkowicz R, Lipska AG, Karczyńska A, Ślusarz M, Ślusarz R, Giełdoń A, Czaplewski C, Jagieła D, Zaborowski B, Scheraga HA, Liwo A. Performance of protein-structure predictions with the physics-based UNRES force field in CASP11. Bioinformatics 2016; 32:3270-3278. [PMID: 27378298 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btw404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2016] [Accepted: 06/20/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Participating as the Cornell-Gdansk group, we have used our physics-based coarse-grained UNited RESidue (UNRES) force field to predict protein structure in the 11th Community Wide Experiment on the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP11). Our methodology involved extensive multiplexed replica exchange simulations of the target proteins with a recently improved UNRES force field to provide better reproductions of the local structures of polypeptide chains. All simulations were started from fully extended polypeptide chains, and no external information was included in the simulation process except for weak restraints on secondary structure to enable us to finish each prediction within the allowed 3-week time window. Because of simplified UNRES representation of polypeptide chains, use of enhanced sampling methods, code optimization and parallelization and sufficient computational resources, we were able to treat, for the first time, all 55 human prediction targets with sizes from 44 to 595 amino acid residues, the average size being 251 residues. Complete structures of six single-domain proteins were predicted accurately, with the highest accuracy being attained for the T0769, for which the CαRMSD was 3.8 Å for 97 residues of the experimental structure. Correct structures were also predicted for 13 domains of multi-domain proteins with accuracy comparable to that of the best template-based modeling methods. With further improvements of the UNRES force field that are now underway, our physics-based coarse-grained approach to protein-structure prediction will eventually reach global prediction capacity and, consequently, reliability in simulating protein structure and dynamics that are important in biochemical processes. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION Freely available on the web at http://www.unres.pl/ CONTACT: has5@cornell.edu.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paweł Krupa
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301, USA
| | - Magdalena A Mozolewska
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301, USA
| | - Marta Wiśniewska
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301, USA
| | - Yanping Yin
- Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301, USA
| | - Yi He
- Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301, USA
| | - Adam K Sieradzan
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301, USA
| | - Robert Ganzynkowicz
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland
| | - Agnieszka G Lipska
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301, USA
| | - Agnieszka Karczyńska
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland
| | - Magdalena Ślusarz
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland
| | - Rafał Ślusarz
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland
| | - Artur Giełdoń
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland
| | - Cezary Czaplewski
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland
| | - Dawid Jagieła
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland
| | | | - Harold A Scheraga
- Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301, USA
| | - Adam Liwo
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdańsk 80-308, Poland
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Zaborowski B, Jagieła D, Czaplewski C, Hałabis A, Lewandowska A, Żmudzińska W, Ołdziej S, Karczyńska A, Omieczynski C, Wirecki T, Liwo A. A Maximum-Likelihood Approach to Force-Field Calibration. J Chem Inf Model 2015; 55:2050-70. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.5b00395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Bartłomiej Zaborowski
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Dawid Jagieła
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Cezary Czaplewski
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Anna Hałabis
- Laboratory
of Biopolymer Structure, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Kładki
24, 80-922 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Agnieszka Lewandowska
- Laboratory
of Biopolymer Structure, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Kładki
24, 80-922 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Wioletta Żmudzińska
- Laboratory
of Biopolymer Structure, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Kładki
24, 80-922 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Stanisław Ołdziej
- Laboratory
of Biopolymer Structure, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Kładki
24, 80-922 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Agnieszka Karczyńska
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Christian Omieczynski
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Tomasz Wirecki
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Adam Liwo
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
- Center
for In Silico Protein Structure and School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, 87 Hoegiro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130-722, Republic of Korea
| |
Collapse
|