A SARS-CoV-2 protein interaction map reveals targets for drug repurposing

A newly described coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has infected over 2.3 million people, led to the death of more than 160,000 individuals and caused worldwide social and economic disruption1,2. There are no antiviral drugs with proven clinical efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19, nor are there any vaccines that prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, and efforts to develop drugs and vaccines are hampered by the limited knowledge of the molecular details of how SARS-CoV-2 infects cells. Here we cloned, tagged and expressed 26 of the 29 SARS-CoV-2 proteins in human cells and identified the human proteins that physically associated with each of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins using affinity-purification mass spectrometry, identifying 332 high-confidence protein-protein interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and human proteins. Among these, we identify 66 druggable human proteins or host factors targeted by 69 compounds (of which, 29 drugs are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, 12 are in clinical trials and 28 are preclinical compounds). We screened a subset of these in multiple viral assays and found two sets of pharmacological agents that displayed antiviral activity: inhibitors of mRNA translation and predicted regulators of the sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors. Further studies of these host-factor-targeting agents, including their combination with drugs that directly target viral enzymes, could lead to a therapeutic regimen to treat COVID-19.

The Global Phosphorylation Landscape of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

The causative agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, highlighting an urgent need to develop antiviral therapies. Here we present a quantitative mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics survey of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Vero E6 cells, revealing dramatic rewiring of phosphorylation on host and viral proteins. SARS-CoV-2 infection promoted casein kinase II (CK2) and p38 MAPK activation, production of diverse cytokines, and shutdown of mitotic kinases, resulting in cell cycle arrest. Infection also stimulated a marked induction of CK2-containing filopodial protrusions possessing budding viral particles. Eighty-seven drugs and compounds were identified by mapping global phosphorylation profiles to dysregulated kinases and pathways. We found pharmacologic inhibition of the p38, CK2, CDK, AXL, and PIKFYVE kinases to possess antiviral efficacy, representing potential COVID-19 therapies.

Comparative host-coronavirus protein interaction networks reveal pan-viral disease mechanisms

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a grave threat to public health and the global economy. SARS-CoV-2 is closely related to the more lethal but less transmissible coronaviruses SARS-CoV-1 and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Here, we have carried out comparative viral-human protein-protein interaction and viral protein localization analyses for all three viruses. Subsequent functional genetic screening identified host factors that functionally impinge on coronavirus proliferation, including Tom70, a mitochondrial chaperone protein that interacts with both SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 ORF9b, an interaction we structurally characterized using cryo-electron microscopy. Combining genetically validated host factors with both COVID-19 patient genetic data and medical billing records identified molecular mechanisms and potential drug treatments that merit further molecular and clinical study.

A SARS-CoV-2-Human Protein-Protein Interaction Map Reveals Drug Targets and Potential Drug-Repurposing

An outbreak of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19 respiratory disease, has infected over 290,000 people since the end of 2019, killed over 12,000, and caused worldwide social and economic disruption1,2. There are currently no antiviral drugs with proven efficacy nor are there vaccines for its prevention. Unfortunately, the scientific community has little knowledge of the molecular details of SARS-CoV-2 infection. To illuminate this, we cloned, tagged and expressed 26 of the 29 viral proteins in human cells and identified the human proteins physically associated with each using affinity-purification mass spectrometry (AP-MS), which identified 332 high confidence SARS-CoV-2-human protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Among these, we identify 67 druggable human proteins or host factors targeted by 69 existing FDA-approved drugs, drugs in clinical trials and/or preclinical compounds, that we are currently evaluating for efficacy in live SARS-CoV-2 infection assays. The identification of host dependency factors mediating virus infection may provide key insights into effective molecular targets for developing broadly acting antiviral therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 and other deadly coronavirus strains.

A protein interaction landscape of breast cancer

[Figure: see text].

A SARS-CoV-2 protein interaction map reveals targets for drug repurposing

A newly described coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has infected over 2.3 million people, led to the death of more than 160,000 individuals and caused worldwide social and economic disruption^1,2. There are no antiviral drugs with proven clinical efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19, nor are there any vaccines that prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, and efforts to develop drugs and vaccines are hampered by the limited knowledge of the molecular details of how SARS-CoV-2 infects cells. Here we cloned, tagged and expressed 26 of the 29 SARS-CoV-2 proteins in human cells and identified the human proteins that physically associated with each of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins using affinity-purification mass spectrometry, identifying 332 high-confidence protein-protein interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and human proteins. Among these, we identify 66 druggable human proteins or host factors targeted by 69 compounds (of which, 29 drugs are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, 12 are in clinical trials and 28 are preclinical compounds). We screened a subset of these in multiple viral assays and found two sets of pharmacological agents that displayed antiviral activity: inhibitors of mRNA translation and predicted regulators of the sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors. Further studies of these host-factor-targeting agents, including their combination with drugs that directly target viral enzymes, could lead to a therapeutic regimen to treat COVID-19.

A multi-scale map of protein assemblies in the DNA damage response

The DNA damage response (DDR) ensures error-free DNA replication and transcription and is disrupted in numerous diseases. An ongoing challenge is to determine the proteins orchestrating DDR and their organization into complexes, including constitutive interactions and those responding to genomic insult. Here, we use multi-conditional network analysis to systematically map DDR assemblies at multiple scales. Affinity purifications of 21 DDR proteins, with/without genotoxin exposure, are combined with multi-omics data to reveal a hierarchical organization of 605 proteins into 109 assemblies. The map captures canonical repair mechanisms and proposes new DDR-associated proteins extending to stress, transport, and chromatin functions. We find that protein assemblies closely align with genetic dependencies in processing specific genotoxins and that proteins in multiple assemblies typically act in multiple genotoxin responses. Follow-up by DDR functional readouts newly implicates 12 assembly members in double-strand-break repair. The DNA damage response assemblies map is available for interactive visualization and query (ccmi.org/ddram/).

Abstract 2308: The protein interaction landscape of breast cancer

Cancers have been associated with a diverse array of genomic alterations, many of which are rare with unknown significance. To understand the cellular mechanisms impacted by such alterations in breast invasive carcinoma, we have applied affinity-purification mass spectrometry to delineate comprehensive biophysical interaction networks for 40 frequently altered breast cancer proteins across three human breast cell lines, providing a novel resource of context-specific and shared protein-protein interaction networks in breast cancer cells. These networks interconnect and enrich for common and rare cancer mutations, and are substantially rewired by mutations. Our analysis identifies novel PIK3CA-interacting proteins which repress AKT signaling, and UBE2N emerges as a BRCA1 interactor predictive of clinical response to PARP inhibition. We also show that Spinophilin interacts with and dephosphorylates BRCA1 to promote DNA double-strand break repair. Thus, cancer protein interaction landscapes provide a framework for recognizing oncogenic drivers and drug vulnerabilities.

Citation Format: Minkyu Kim, Jisoo Park, Mehdi Bouhaddou, Kyumin Kim, Ajda Rojc, Maya Modak, Margaret Soucheray, Patrick O'Leary, Denise Wolf, Dominique C. Mitchell, Fan Zheng, John D. Gordan, Jean-Philippe Coppé, Danielle L. Swaney, Laura van' t Veer, Alan Ashworth, Trey Ideker, Nevan J. Krogan. The protein interaction landscape of breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2308.

II. Effect of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids on mammary H-ras expression and PGE2 levels in DMBA-treated rats

In an attempt to evaluate some of the mechanisms by which dietary n-3 and n-6 PUFA influence 7,12,dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary tumorigenesis, we measured: 1) concentrations of prostaglandin (PG) E1 (metabolite of C20:3, n-6) and PGE2 (metabolite of C20:4, n-6); and, 2) expression of H-ras oncogene in non-cancerous (NC) and cancerous (C) mammary tissues taken from rats 14 weeks after they were treated with 5 mg DMBA. Five groups of rats were fed one of the synthetic diets containing 23.5% of fat by weight: I. Blackcurrant oil (BCO) (23.5%); II. corn oil (CO) (23.5%); III. BCO (15.5%) + fish oil (FO) (8%); IV. FO (20.5%) + CO (3%); and V. BCO (20.5%) + FO (3%). PGE1 and PGE2 levels were lower in NC mammary tissues than in corresponding C tissues in all 5 diet groups. In Group IV, PGE2 levels in both NC and C tissues were significantly lower than in those of the remaining 4 groups. In groups fed BCO alone (I) or in combination with FO (III and V), PGE2, content in C tissue was lower compared with the corn oil-fed group (II), but these observations were significant only for III and V. Conversely, in Groups III and V, the content of PGE1 in C tissues was significantly higher. The results of the present study demonstrate interactions and competition between 3 eicosapolyenoic acids that act as substrates for cyclooxygenase. The observation that PGE2 production is reduced when mammary tumor development was inhibited confirms earlier findings. Whether these changes in eicosanoids can explain differences in ras p21 levels as judged by cross-linking to a-32 P-GTP remains to be investigated in greater detail. Preliminary results from a small number of samples indicate that expression of H-ras in C mammary tissue was in the order CO (II) greater than BCO (I) = FO (IV).