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Narjes F, Edfeldt F, Petersen J, Öster L, Hamblet C, Bird J, Bold P, Rae R, Bäck E, Stomilovic S, Zlatoidsky P, Svensson T, Hidestål L, Kunalingam L, Shamovsky I, De Maria L, Gordon E, Lewis RJ, Watcham S, van Rietschoten K, Mudd GE, Harrison H, Chen L, Skynner MJ. Discovery and Characterization of a Bicyclic Peptide (Bicycle) Binder to Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin. J Med Chem 2024; 67:2220-2235. [PMID: 38284169 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c02163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is an epithelial-derived pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in the development of asthma and other atopic diseases. We used Bicycle Therapeutics' proprietary phage display platform to identify bicyclic peptides (Bicycles) with high affinity for TSLP, a target that is difficult to drug with conventional small molecules due to the extended protein-protein interactions it forms with both receptors. The hit series was shown to bind to TSLP in a hotspot, that is also used by IL-7Rα. Guided by the first X-ray crystal structure of a small peptide binding to TSLP and the identification of key metabolites, we were able to improve the proteolytic stability of this series in lung S9 fractions without sacrificing binding affinity. This resulted in the potent Bicycle 46 with nanomolar affinity to TSLP (KD = 13 nM), low plasma clearance of 6.4 mL/min/kg, and an effective half-life of 46 min after intravenous dosing to rats.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Sophie Watcham
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | | | - Gemma E Mudd
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Helen Harrison
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Liuhong Chen
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Michael J Skynner
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
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Oeller M, Kang RJD, Bolt HL, Gomes Dos Santos AL, Weinmann AL, Nikitidis A, Zlatoidsky P, Su W, Czechtizky W, De Maria L, Sormanni P, Vendruscolo M. Sequence-based prediction of the intrinsic solubility of peptides containing non-natural amino acids. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7475. [PMID: 37978172 PMCID: PMC10656490 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42940-w] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Non-natural amino acids are increasingly used as building blocks in the development of peptide-based drugs as they expand the available chemical space to tailor function, half-life and other key properties. However, while the chemical space of modified amino acids (mAAs) such as residues containing post-translational modifications (PTMs) is potentially vast, experimental methods for measuring the developability properties of mAA-containing peptides are expensive and time consuming. To facilitate developability programs through computational methods, we present CamSol-PTM, a method that enables the fast and reliable sequence-based prediction of the intrinsic solubility of mAA-containing peptides in aqueous solution at room temperature. From a computational screening of 50,000 mAA-containing variants of three peptides, we selected five different small-size mAAs for a total number of 37 peptide variants for experimental validation. We demonstrate the accuracy of the predictions by comparing the calculated and experimental solubility values. Our results indicate that the computational screening of mAA-containing peptides can extend by over four orders of magnitude the ability to explore the solubility chemical space of peptides and confirm that our method can accurately assess the solubility of peptides containing mAAs. This method is available as a web server at https://www-cohsoftware.ch.cam.ac.uk/index.php/camsolptm .
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Oeller
- Centre for Misfolding Diseases, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Proteomics and Signal Transduction, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany
| | - Ryan J D Kang
- Centre for Misfolding Diseases, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Hannah L Bolt
- Hit Discovery, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ana L Gomes Dos Santos
- Advanced Drug Delivery, Pharmaceutical Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Annika Langborg Weinmann
- Early Chemical Development, Pharmaceutical Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Antonios Nikitidis
- Medicinal Chemistry, Research and Early Development, Respiratory and Immunology, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Pavol Zlatoidsky
- Medicinal Chemistry, Research and Early Development, Respiratory and Immunology, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Wu Su
- Medicinal Chemistry, Research and Early Development, Respiratory and Immunology, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Werngard Czechtizky
- Medicinal Chemistry, Research and Early Development, Respiratory and Immunology, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Leonardo De Maria
- Medicinal Chemistry, Research and Early Development, Respiratory and Immunology, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Pietro Sormanni
- Centre for Misfolding Diseases, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Michele Vendruscolo
- Centre for Misfolding Diseases, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
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Pemberton N, Mogemark M, Arlbrandt S, Bold P, Cox RJ, Gardelli C, Holden NS, Karabelas K, Karlsson J, Lever S, Li X, Lindmark H, Norberg M, Perry MWD, Petersen J, Rodrigo Blomqvist S, Thomas M, Tyrchan C, Westin Eriksson A, Zlatoidsky P, Öster L. Discovery of Highly Isoform Selective Orally Bioavailable Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase (PI3K)-γ Inhibitors. J Med Chem 2018; 61:5435-5441. [PMID: 29852070 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.8b00447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, we describe the discovery and optimization of a new chemotype of isoform selective PI3Kγ inhibitors. Starting from an HTS hit, potency and physicochemical properties could be improved to give compounds such as 15, which is a potent and remarkably selective PI3Kγ inhibitor with ADME properties suitable for oral administration. Compound 15 was advanced into in vivo studies showing dose-dependent inhibition of LPS-induced airway neutrophilia in rats when administered orally.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Xueshan Li
- Pharmaron Beijing Co., Ltd. , No. 6 Taihe Road, BDA , Beijing 100176 , P. R. China
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