RESUMO
WD repeat domain 5 (WDR5) is a member of the WD40-repeat protein family that plays a critical role in multiple chromatin-centric processes. Overexpression of WDR5 correlates with a poor clinical outcome in many human cancers, and WDR5 itself has emerged as an attractive target for therapy. Most drug-discovery efforts center on the WIN site of WDR5 that is responsible for the recruitment of WDR5 to chromatin. Here, we describe discovery of a novel WDR5 WIN site antagonists containing a dihydroisoquinolinone bicyclic core using a structure-based design. These compounds exhibit picomolar binding affinity and selective concentration-dependent antiproliferative activities in sensitive MLL-fusion cell lines. Furthermore, these WDR5 WIN site binders inhibit proliferation in MYC-driven cancer cells and reduce MYC recruitment to chromatin at MYC/WDR5 co-bound genes. Thus, these molecules are useful probes to study the implication of WDR5 inhibition in cancers and serve as a potential starting point toward the discovery of anti-WDR5 therapeutics.
Assuntos
Antineoplásicos/síntese química , Antineoplásicos/farmacologia , Compostos Bicíclicos Heterocíclicos com Pontes/síntese química , Compostos Bicíclicos Heterocíclicos com Pontes/farmacologia , Peptídeos e Proteínas de Sinalização Intracelular/antagonistas & inibidores , Quinolonas/síntese química , Quinolonas/farmacologia , Repetições WD40/efeitos dos fármacos , Ciclo Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Proliferação de Células , Cromatina/efeitos dos fármacos , Cromatina/genética , Cristalografia por Raios X , Desenho de Fármacos , Descoberta de Drogas , Repressão Epigenética/efeitos dos fármacos , Genes myc/efeitos dos fármacos , Humanos , Relação Estrutura-AtividadeRESUMO
WD40 repeat (WDR) domains are protein interaction scaffolds that represent one of the largest protein families in human, and a first WDR inhibitor-an allosteric antagonist of polycomb repressive complex 2-just entered the clinic. A systematic analysis of the CORUM database of protein complexes shows that WDR is the most represented domain in transcriptional regulation and one of the most prevalent in the ubiquitin proteasome system, two pathways of high relevance to drug discovery. Parsing the literature and the vulnerability of cancer cell lines to CRISPR knockout indicates that WDR proteins are targets of interest in oncology and other disease areas. A quantitative analysis of WDR structures reveals that druggable binding pockets can be found on multiple surfaces of these multifaceted protein interaction platforms. These data support the development of chemical probes to further interrogate WDR proteins as an emerging therapeutic target class.