RESUMEN
Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) is a heterodimeric transcription factor composed of an oxygen-regulated α subunit and a constitutively expressed ß subunit that serves as the master regulator of the cellular response to low oxygen concentrations. The HIF transcription factor senses and responds to hypoxia by significantly altering transcription and reprogramming cells to enable adaptation to a hypoxic microenvironment. Given the central role played by HIF in the survival and growth of tumors in hypoxia, inhibition of this transcription factor serves as a potential therapeutic approach for treating a variety of cancers. Here, we report the identification, optimization, and characterization of a series of cyclic peptides that disrupt the function of HIF-1 and HIF-2 transcription factors by inhibiting the interaction of both HIF-1α and HIF-2α with HIF-1ß. These compounds are shown to bind to HIF-α and disrupt the protein-protein interaction between the α and ß subunits of the transcription factor, resulting in disruption of hypoxia-response signaling by our lead molecule in several cancer cell lines.
Asunto(s)
Factor 1 Inducible por Hipoxia , Neoplasias , Humanos , Factor 1 Inducible por Hipoxia/metabolismo , Péptidos Cíclicos/farmacología , Péptidos Cíclicos/metabolismo , Hipoxia , Transducción de Señal , Oxígeno/metabolismo , Hipoxia de la Célula , Subunidad alfa del Factor 1 Inducible por Hipoxia/metabolismo , Neoplasias/tratamiento farmacológicoRESUMEN
The budding of HIV from infected cells is driven by the protein-protein interaction between the p6 domain of the HIV Gag protein and the UEV domain of the human TSG101 protein. We report the development of a cyclic peptide inhibitor of the p6/UEV interaction, from a non cell-permeable parent that was identified in a SICLOPPS screen. Amino acids critical for the activity of the parent cyclic peptide were uncovered using alanine-scanning, and a series of non-natural analogues synthesized and assessed. The most potent molecule disrupts the p6/UEV interaction with an IC50 of 6.17 ± 0.24 µM by binding to UEV with a Kd of 11.9 ± 2.8 µM. This compound is cell permeable and active in a cellular virus-like particle budding assay with an IC50 of â¼2 µM. This work further demonstrates the relative simplicity with which the potency and activity of cyclic peptides identified from SICLOPPS libraries can be optimized.