RESUMO
Aminoacyl transfer RNA (tRNA) synthetases (aaRSs) are attractive drug targets, and we present class I and II aaRSs as previously unrecognized targets for adenosine 5'-monophosphate-mimicking nucleoside sulfamates. The target enzyme catalyzes the formation of an inhibitory amino acid-sulfamate conjugate through a reaction-hijacking mechanism. We identified adenosine 5'-sulfamate as a broad-specificity compound that hijacks a range of aaRSs and ML901 as a specific reagent a specific reagent that hijacks a single aaRS in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, namely tyrosine RS (PfYRS). ML901 exerts whole-life-cycle-killing activity with low nanomolar potency and single-dose efficacy in a mouse model of malaria. X-ray crystallographic studies of plasmodium and human YRSs reveal differential flexibility of a loop over the catalytic site that underpins differential susceptibility to reaction hijacking by ML901.
Assuntos
Antimaláricos , Malária Falciparum , Terapia de Alvo Molecular , Plasmodium falciparum , Biossíntese de Proteínas , Proteínas de Protozoários , Tirosina-tRNA Ligase , Adenosina/análogos & derivados , Animais , Antimaláricos/química , Antimaláricos/farmacologia , Antimaláricos/uso terapêutico , Cristalografia por Raios X , Humanos , Malária Falciparum/tratamento farmacológico , Malária Falciparum/parasitologia , Camundongos , Plasmodium falciparum/efeitos dos fármacos , Plasmodium falciparum/enzimologia , Biossíntese de Proteínas/efeitos dos fármacos , Conformação Proteica , Proteínas de Protozoários/química , Proteínas de Protozoários/metabolismo , Ácidos Sulfônicos/química , Tirosina-tRNA Ligase/química , Tirosina-tRNA Ligase/metabolismoRESUMO
Break-induced replication is a specific type of DNA repair that has a co-opted role in telomere extension by telomerase-negative cancer cells. This Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (or 'ALT') is required for viability in approximately 10% of all carcinomas, but up to 50% of the soft-tissue derived sarcomas. In several recent studies, we and others demonstrate that expression and activity of FANCM, a DNA translocase protein, is essential for the viability of ALT-associated cancers. Here we provide a summary of how and why FANCM depletion leads to deletion of ALT-controlled cancers, predominantly through a hyper-activation of break-induced replication. We also discuss how FANCM can and has been targeted in cancer cell killing, including potential opportunities in ALT and other genetic backgrounds.