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Li YD, Ma MW, Hassan MM, Hunkeler M, Teng M, Puvar K, Lumpkin R, Sandoval B, Jin CY, Ficarro SB, Wang MY, Xu S, Groendyke BJ, Sigua LH, Tavares I, Zou C, Tsai JM, Park PMC, Yoon H, Majewski FC, Marto JA, Qi J, Nowak RP, Donovan KA, Słabicki M, Gray NS, Fischer ES, Ebert BL. Template-assisted covalent modification of DCAF16 underlies activity of BRD4 molecular glue degraders. bioRxiv 2023:2023.02.14.528208. [PMID: 36824856 PMCID: PMC9949066 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.14.528208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
Small molecules that induce protein-protein interactions to exert proximity-driven pharmacology such as targeted protein degradation are a powerful class of therapeutics1-3. Molecular glues are of particular interest given their favorable size and chemical properties and represent the only clinically approved degrader drugs4-6. The discovery and development of molecular glues for novel targets, however, remains challenging. Covalent strategies could in principle facilitate molecular glue discovery by stabilizing the neo-protein interfaces. Here, we present structural and mechanistic studies that define a trans-labeling covalent molecular glue mechanism, which we term "template-assisted covalent modification". We found that a novel series of BRD4 molecular glue degraders act by recruiting the CUL4DCAF16 ligase to the second bromodomain of BRD4 (BRD4BD2). BRD4BD2, in complex with DCAF16, serves as a structural template to facilitate covalent modification of DCAF16, which stabilizes the BRD4-degrader-DCAF16 ternary complex formation and facilitates BRD4 degradation. A 2.2 Å cryo-electron microscopy structure of the ternary complex demonstrates that DCAF16 and BRD4BD2 have pre-existing structural complementarity which optimally orients the reactive moiety of the degrader for DCAF16Cys58 covalent modification. Systematic mutagenesis of both DCAF16 and BRD4BD2 revealed that the loop conformation around BRD4His437, rather than specific side chains, is critical for stable interaction with DCAF16 and BD2 selectivity. Together our work establishes "template-assisted covalent modification" as a mechanism for covalent molecular glues, which opens a new path to proximity driven pharmacology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yen-Der Li
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Cancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Michelle W. Ma
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Muhammad Murtaza Hassan
- Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Chem-H and Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford , School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Moritz Hunkeler
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Mingxing Teng
- Department of Pathology & Immunology, and Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
| | - Kedar Puvar
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Ryan Lumpkin
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Brittany Sandoval
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Cyrus Y. Jin
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Scott B. Ficarro
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Blais Proteomics Center, and Center for Emergent Drug Targets, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Michelle Y. Wang
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Shawn Xu
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | | | - Logan H. Sigua
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Isidoro Tavares
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Blais Proteomics Center, and Center for Emergent Drug Targets, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Charles Zou
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Jonathan M. Tsai
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Cancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - Paul M. C. Park
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Cancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Hojong Yoon
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Cancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Felix C. Majewski
- Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Chem-H and Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford , School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Jarrod A. Marto
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Blais Proteomics Center, and Center for Emergent Drug Targets, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - Jun Qi
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Radosław P. Nowak
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Katherine A. Donovan
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Mikołaj Słabicki
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Cancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Nathanael S. Gray
- Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Chem-H and Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford , School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Eric S. Fischer
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Benjamin L. Ebert
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Cancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA
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Boike L, Cioffi AG, Majewski FC, Co J, Henning NJ, Jones MD, Liu G, McKenna JM, Tallarico JA, Schirle M, Nomura DK. Discovery of a Functional Covalent Ligand Targeting an Intrinsically Disordered Cysteine within MYC. Cell Chem Biol 2020; 28:4-13.e17. [PMID: 32966806 DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2020.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Revised: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
MYC is a major oncogenic transcriptional driver of most human cancers that has remained intractable to direct targeting because much of MYC is intrinsically disordered. Here, we have performed a cysteine-reactive covalent ligand screen to identify compounds that could disrupt the binding of MYC to its DNA consensus sequence in vitro and also impair MYC transcriptional activity in situ in cells. We have identified a covalent ligand, EN4, that targets cysteine 171 of MYC within a predicted intrinsically disordered region of the protein. We show that EN4 directly targets MYC in cells, reduces MYC and MAX thermal stability, inhibits MYC transcriptional activity, downregulates multiple MYC transcriptional targets, and impairs tumorigenesis. We also show initial structure-activity relationships of EN4 and identify compounds that show improved potency. Overall, we identify a unique ligandable site within an intrinsically disordered region of MYC that leads to inhibition of MYC transcriptional activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydia Boike
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Alexander G Cioffi
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Felix C Majewski
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jennifer Co
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Nathaniel J Henning
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Michael D Jones
- Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Gang Liu
- Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jeffrey M McKenna
- Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - John A Tallarico
- Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Markus Schirle
- Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Daniel K Nomura
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Novartis-Berkeley Center for Proteomics and Chemistry Technologies, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Innovative Genomics Institute, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
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