Expanding the "minimalist" small molecule tagging approach to different bioactive compounds.

"Minimalist" small molecule tagging (MSMT) is a promising approach that easily converts bioactive compounds into affinity-based probes (AfBPs) for proteomic studies. In this work, seven bioactive compounds targeting diversified protein classes were installed with "minimalist" linkers through common reactions to generate the corresponding AfBPs. These probes were evaluated for cell-based protein profiling and target validation. Among them, the entinostat-derived probe EN and the camptothecin-derived probe CA were further utilized in cellular imaging and SILAC-based large-scale target identification. Our extensive studies suggest that the "minimalist" small molecule tagging approach could be expanded to different classes of bioactive compounds for modification into AfBPs as a dual functional tool for both proteomics and cellular imaging.

Insight into miRNAs related with glucometabolic disorder.

A microRNA (miRNA) is a single-stranded, small and non-coding RNA molecule that contains 20-25 nucleotides. More than 2000 miRNAs have been identified in human genes since the first miRNA was discovered in Caenorhabditis elegans in the early 1990s. miRNAs play a crucial role in various biological processes by regulating gene expression through post-transcriptional mechanisms. The alterations of their levels are associated with various diseases, such as glucometabolic disorder and lipid metabolism disorder. In recent years, miRNAs have been proved to be involved in regulating the functions of pancreatic ß-cells, insulin resistance and other biological behaviors related to glucometabolic disorder and the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus (DM). This review summarized specific miRNAs, including miRNA-375 (miR-375), miRNA-155 (miR-155), miRNA-21 (miR-21), miRNA-33 (miR-33), the let-7 family and some other miRNAs related to glucometabolic regulation, introduced the obstacles and challenges in miRNA therapy, and discussed the prospect of new treatment methods for glucometabolic disorder.

Screening Mammalian Cells on a Hydrogel: Functionalized Small Molecule Microarray.

Mammalian cell-based microarray technology has gained wide attention, for its plethora of promising applications. The platform is able to provide simultaneous information on multiple parameters for a given target, or even multiple target proteins, in a complex biological system. Here we describe the preparation of mammalian cell-based microarrays using selectively captured of human prostate cancer cells (PC-3). This platform was then used in controlled drug release and measuring the associated drug effects on these cancer cells.

In Situ Proteome Profiling and Bioimaging Applications of Small-Molecule Affinity-Based Probes Derived From DOT1L Inhibitors.

DOT1L is the sole protein methyltransferase that methylates histone H3 on lysine 79 (H3K79), and is a promising drug target against cancers. Small-molecule inhibitors of DOT1L such as FED1 are potential anti-cancer agents and useful tools to investigate the biological roles of DOT1L in human diseases. FED1 showed excellent in vitro inhibitory activity against DOT1L, but its cellular effect was relatively poor. In this study, we designed and synthesized photo-reactive and "clickable" affinity-based probes (AfBPs), P1 and P2, which were cell-permeable and structural mimics of FED1. The binding and inhibitory effects of these two probes against DOT1L protein were extensively investigated in vitro and in live mammalian cells (in situ). The cellular uptake and sub-cellular localization properties of the probes were subsequently studied in live-cell imaging experiments, and our results revealed that, whereas both P1 and P2 readily entered mammalian cells, most of them were not able to reach the cell nucleus where functional DOT1L resides. This offers a plausible explanation for the poor cellular activity of FED1. Finally with P1/P2, large-scale cell-based proteome profiling, followed by quantitative LC-MS/MS, was carried out to identify potential cellular off-targets of FED1. Amongst the more than 100 candidate off-targets identified, NOP2 (a putative ribosomal RNA methyltransferase) was further confirmed to be likely a genuine off-target of FED1 by preliminary validation experiments including pull-down/Western blotting (PD/WB) and cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA).

Controlled proliferation and screening of mammalian cells on a hydrogel-functionalized small molecule microarray.

A hydrogel-functionalized small molecule microarray has been developed, on which PC-3 cancer cells were selectively grown. Subsequent controlled release of immobilized bioactive compounds enabled cell-based screening to be directly carried out on this platform.

Developing new chemical tools for DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT 1): a small-molecule activity-based probe and novel tetrazole-containing inhibitors.

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs). Abnormal expression of endogenous DNMTs in human causes alterations in the genome methylation patterns which subsequently lead to the development of cancers. Thus detection of endogenous DNMT activities and efficient inhibition of DNMTs have important therapeutic significance. In this work, a small molecule activity-based probe (ABP) of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), T1, was developed. The probe was a clickable analog of tryptophan and was able to covalently label endogenous DNMT1 and inhibit its enzymatic activity more effectively than previously known DNMT1 inhibitors (RG108 and its maleimide analog 1149). In addition, we also discovered a new type of small molecule DNMT inhibitors based on tetrazole-containing compounds which were analogs of 1149. Among these compounds, which we called Gn, one of them (G6) possessed reasonable inhibitory activity against DNMT1 in both in vitro enzymatic assays and cell growth proliferation experiments. Both T1 and G6 showed effective labeling of endogenous DNMT1 from mammalian cells by using in vitro competitive pull-down and live-cell bioimaging experiments.

A sensitive two-photon probe to selectively detect monoamine oxidase B activity in Parkinson's disease models.

The unusually high MAO-B activity consistently observed in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients has been proposed as a biomarker; however, this has not been realized due to the lack of probes suitable for MAO-B-specific detection in live cells/tissues. Here we report the first two-photon, small molecule fluorogenic probe (U1) that enables highly sensitive/specific and real-time imaging of endogenous MAO-B activities across biological samples. We also used U1 to confirm the reported inverse relationship between parkin and MAO-B in PD models. With no apparent toxicity, U1 may be used to monitor MAO-B activities in small animals during disease development. In clinical samples, we find elevated MAO-B activities only in B lymphocytes (not in fibroblasts), hinting that MAO-B activity in peripheral blood cells might be an accessible biomarker for rapid detection of PD. Our results provide important starting points for using small molecule imaging techniques to explore MAO-B at the organism level.

Target identification of biologically active small molecules via in situ methods.

The identification of potential cellular targets of small molecules is important in biomedical research and drug discovery, but has been challenging due to a lack of proteome-based methods that enable direct investigation of small molecule-protein interaction in live cells. This review summarizes some of the recent advances in target identification of bioactive molecules (including drugs and natural products) using in situ methods for cell-based proteome profiling of potential on and off targets.