"The 5-TAMRA (5-carboxytetramethylrhodamine) peptide was generated by CPCScientific consisting of the sequence 5-TAMRA-YPYDVPDYAIREIVSRNKRRYQEDG.."
Abstract
The ubiquitin system regulates essential cellular processes in eukaryotes. Ubiquitin is ligated to substrate proteins as monomers or chains and the topology of ubiquitin modifications regulates substrate interactions with specific proteins. Thus ubiquitination directs a variety of substrate fates including proteasomal degradation1. Deubiquitinase enzymes cleave ubiquitin from substrates and are implicated in disease2; for example, ubiquitin-specific protease-7 (USP7) regulates stability of the p53 tumour suppressor and other proteins critical for tumour cell survival3. However, developing selective deubiquitinase inhibitors has been challenging4 and no co-crystal structures have been solved with small-molecule inhibitors. Here, using nuclear magnetic resonance-based screening and structure-based design, we describe the development of selective USP7 inhibitors GNE-6640 and GNE-6776. These compounds induce tumour cell death and enhance cytotoxicity with chemotherapeutic agents and targeted compounds, including PIM kinase inhibitors. Structural studies reveal that GNE-6640 and GNE-6776 non-covalently target USP7 12 Å distant from the catalytic cysteine. The compounds attenuate ubiquitin binding and thus inhibit USP7 deubiquitinase activity. GNE-6640 and GNE-6776 interact with acidic residues that mediate hydrogen-bond interactions with the ubiquitin Lys48 side chain5, suggesting that USP7 preferentially interacts with and cleaves ubiquitin moieties that have free Lys48 side chains. We investigated this idea by engineering di-ubiquitin chains containing differential proximal and distal isotopic labels and measuring USP7 binding by nuclear magnetic resonance. This preferential binding protracted the depolymerization kinetics of Lys48-linked ubiquitin chains relative to Lys63-linked chains. In summary, engineering compounds that inhibit USP7 activity by attenuating ubiquitin binding suggests opportunities for developing other deubiquitinase inhibitors and may be a strategy more broadly applicable to inhibiting proteins that require ubiquitin binding for full functional activity.
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Diao, J., Komura, R., Sano, T., Pantua, H., Storek, K.M., Inaba, H., Ogawa, H., Noland, C.L., Peng, Y., Gloor, S.L. and Yan, D. bioRxiv (2020): 2020-10.
- Departments of Infectious Diseases, Structural Biology, Biochemical and Cellular Pharmacology, Translational Immunology, Pathology, and Early Discovery Biochemistry, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA 94080 USA
The standard assay consists of 6 μL reaction mixture with 3 nM Lgt-DDM, 50 μM phosphatidylglycerol (1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-(1’-rac-glycerol), Avanti), 12.5 μM Pal-IAAC peptide substrate derived from the Pal lipoprotein (MQLNKVLKGLMIALPVMAIAACSSNKN, synthesized by CPC Scientific)
Pantua, H., Skippington, E., Braun, M.G., Noland, C.L., Diao, J., Peng, Y., Gloor, S.L., Yan, D., Kang, J., Katakam, A.K. and Reeder, J. MBio 11, no. 5 (2020): 10-1128.
- Departments of Infectious Diseases, OMNI Bioinformatics, Chemistry, Structural Biology, Biochemical and Cellular Pharmacology, Translational Immunology, Pathology, Molecular Biology, Genentech, South San Francisco, California, USA
MQLNKV-L(U13C6,15N)-KGL(U13C6,15N)MIALPVMAIAA-dipalmitoyl2C-SSNKNGG-K-biotin, which upon cleavage by LspA, yields the product peptide dipalmitoyl2C-SSNKNGG-K-biotin. A product standard [dipalmitoyl2C-SSNKNAAK-(NHCH2CH2NH)-biotin; CPC Scientific] was in the reaction mixture as an internal standard for normalization of product quantitation.
Protein-protein and protein-peptide interactions play critical roles in all types of cellular processing. Peptides are natural partners to proteins and, as ligands, bind to proteins with high affinity due to their capacity to adapt to the often flexible protein surface. Despite this, peptides have drawbacks as drug candidates that include low plasma bioavailability, instability from proteolytic enzymes, and poor passive membrane permeability. Some success has been achieved with linear peptides, particularly peptides that maintain α-helical secondary structures. These motifs can be introduced to stabilized α-helical motifs by common “peptide-stapling” approaches, but stapled peptides can suffer from low bioactivity and poor solubility. Another strategy to maintain peptide secondary structure is modification by macrocyclization.
SAN JOSE, CA., Sept 3, 2020 /CPCNewswire/ — CPC Scientific Inc. is pleased to announce that the European Commission (EC) has granted the Conditional Marketing Authorization (CMA) for MYR Pharmaceuticals lead compound HEPCLUDEX®. CPC Scientific serves as a supplier and partner to MYR Pharmaceuticals for the development and manufacturing of bulevirtide (Hepcludex). This drug is […]
Curreli, Francesca, Sofia MB Victor, Shahad Ahmed, Aleksandra Drelich, Xiaohe Tong, Chien-Te K. Tseng, Christopher D. Hillyer, and Asim K. Debnath. Mbio 11, no. 6 (2020): e02451-20.
We have synthesized (CPC Scientific, Inc.) four stapled peptides, as depicted in Figure 2. We also synthesized the linear peptide, NYBSP-C, as a control. Besides, we purchased a linear peptide, SBP1, to use as a control, which was reported recently to bind to SARS-CoV-2 RBD with high affinity (KD = 47nM).
Abdulganiyyu, I. A.; Kaczmarek, K.; Zabrocki, J.; Nachman, R. J.; Marchal, E.; Schellens, S.; Verlinden, H.; Broeck, J. V.; Marco, H.; Jackson, G. E. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2020, 103362.
A head-to-tail cyclic, octapeptide analog of Locmi-AKH-I, cycloAKH (cyclo[LNFTPNWG]) was synthesized to severely restrict the conformational freedom of the AKH structure.
Clairfeuille, T., Buchholz, K.R., Li, Q., Verschueren, E., Liu, P., Sangaraju, D., Park, S., Noland, C.L., Storek, K.M., Nickerson, N.N. and Martin, L. Nature 584, no. 7821 (2020): 479-483.
- Departments of Structural Biology, Infectious Diseases, Microchemistry, Proteomics & Lipidomics, Drug Metabolism & Pharmacokinetics, Translational Immunology, BioMolecular Resources, Biochemical & Cellular Pharmacology, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Discovery Chemistry Departments, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA.
LAB peptides ([..], CPC Scientific, [..] l, standard solid-phase peptide synthesis) at 10 mM in 50 mM Tris, pH 8, and 100 mM NaCl were diluted in MHB II cation adjusted broth (800 μM top concentration) or LB. Where indicated, EDTA was added to a final concentration of 0.5 mM.
Chan, Leslie W., Melodi N. Anahtar, Ta-Hsuan Ong, Kelsey E. Hern, Roderick R. Kunz, and Sangeeta N. Bhatia. Nature Nanotechnology (2020): 1-9.
HFA-modifed peptides were synthesized by CPC Scientifc (>95% purity). Briefy, the peptide substrate, Ac-CKKK(Cy5)-PEG4-Nle(O-Bzl)-Met(O)2-Oic-Abu-OH, was synthesized on Fmoc-Abu-CTC resin via standard Fmoc solid phase peptide synthesis.