RESUMEN
The attachment of biotin to a small molecule provides a powerful tool in biology. Here, we present a systematic approach to identify biotinylated analogues of the Hsp90 inhibitor PU-H71 that are capable of permeating cell membranes so as to enable the investigation of Hsp90 complexes in live cells. The identified derivative 2g can isolate Hsp90 through affinity purification and, as we show, represents a unique and useful tool to probe tumor Hsp90 biology in live cells by affinity capture, flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. To our knowledge, 2g is the only reported biotinylated Hsp90 probe to have such combined characteristics.
RESUMEN
Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) is a family of proteins with key roles in regulating malignancy. Cancer cells rely on Hsp70 to inhibit apoptosis, regulate senescence and autophagy, and maintain the stability of numerous onco-proteins. Despite these important biological functions in cancer, robust chemical tools that enable the analysis of the Hsp70-regulated proteome in a tumor-by-tumor manner are yet unavailable. Here we take advantage of a recently reported Hsp70 ligand to design and develop an affinity purification chemical toolset for potential use in the investigation of the endogenous Hsp70-interacting proteome in cancer. We demonstrate that these tools lock Hsp70 in complex with onco-client proteins and effectively isolate Hsp70 complexes for identification through biochemical techniques. Using these tools we provide proof-of-concept analyses that glimpse into the complex roles played by Hsp70 in maintaining a multitude of cell-specific malignancy-driving proteins.