PF-07059013: A Noncovalent Modulator of Hemoglobin for Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder caused by a single point mutation (ß6 Glu → Val) on the ß-chain of adult hemoglobin (HbA) that results in sickled hemoglobin (HbS). In the deoxygenated state, polymerization of HbS leads to sickling of red blood cells (RBC). Several downstream consequences of polymerization and RBC sickling include vaso-occlusion, hemolytic anemia, and stroke. We report the design of a noncovalent modulator of HbS, clinical candidate PF-07059013 (23). The seminal hit molecule was discovered by virtual screening and confirmed through a series of biochemical and biophysical studies. After a significant optimization effort, we arrived at 23, a compound that specifically binds to Hb with nanomolar affinity and displays strong partitioning into RBCs. In a 2-week multiple dose study using Townes SCD mice, 23 showed a 37.8% (±9.0%) reduction in sickling compared to vehicle treated mice. 23 (PF-07059013) has advanced to phase 1 clinical trials.

Identification of Cyanamide-Based Janus Kinase 3 (JAK3) Covalent Inhibitors.

Ongoing interest in the discovery of selective JAK3 inhibitors led us to design novel covalent inhibitors that engage the JAK3 residue Cys909 by cyanamide, a structurally and mechanistically differentiated electrophile from other cysteine reacting groups previously incorporated in JAK3 covalent inhibitors. Through crystallography, kinetic, and computational studies, interaction of cyanamide 12 with Cys909 was optimized leading to potent and selective JAK3 inhibitors as exemplified by 32. In relevant cell-based assays and in agreement with previous results from this group, 32 demonstrated that selective inhibition of JAK3 is sufficient to drive JAK1/JAK3-mediated cellular responses. The contribution from extrahepatic processes to the clearance of cyanamide-based covalent inhibitors was also characterized using metabolic and pharmacokinetic data for 12. This work also gave key insights into a productive approach to decrease glutathione/glutathione S-transferase-mediated clearance, a challenge typically encountered during the discovery of covalent kinase inhibitors.

Rational approach to highly potent and selective apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) inhibitors.

Many diseases are believed to be driven by pathological levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress has long been recognized as a driver for inflammatory disorders. Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) has been reported to be activated by intracellular ROS and its inhibition leads to a down regulation of p38-and JNK-dependent signaling. Consequently, ASK1 inhibitors may have the potential to treat clinically important inflammatory pathologies including renal, pulmonary and liver diseases. Analysis of the ASK1 ATP-binding site suggested that Gln756, an amino acid that rarely occurs at the GK+2 position, offered opportunities for achieving kinase selectivity for ASK1 which was applied to the design of a parallel medicinal chemistry library that afforded inhibitors of ASK1 with nanomolar potency and excellent kinome selectivity. A focused optimization strategy utilizing structure-based design resulted in the identification of ASK1 inhibitors with low nanomolar potency in a cellular assay, high selectivity when tested against kinase and broad pharmacology screening panels, and attractive physicochemical properties. The compounds we describe are attractive tool compounds to inform the therapeutic potential of ASK1 inhibition.

The catalytic mechanism of cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) and implications for innate immunity and inhibition.

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) is activated by ds-DNA binding to produce the secondary messenger 2',3'-cGAMP. cGAS is an important control point in the innate immune response; dysregulation of the cGAS pathway is linked to autoimmune diseases while targeted stimulation may be of benefit in immunoncology. We report here the structure of cGAS with dinucleotides and small molecule inhibitors, and kinetic studies of the cGAS mechanism. Our structural work supports the understanding of how ds-DNA activates cGAS, suggesting a site for small molecule binders that may cause cGAS activation at physiological ATP concentrations, and an apparent hotspot for inhibitor binding. Mechanistic studies of cGAS provide the first kinetic constants for 2',3'-cGAMP formation, and interestingly, describe a catalytic mechanism where 2',3'-cGAMP may be a minor product of cGAS compared with linear nucleotides.

Discovery of PF-06928215 as a high affinity inhibitor of cGAS enabled by a novel fluorescence polarization assay.

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) initiates the innate immune system in response to cytosolic dsDNA. After binding and activation from dsDNA, cGAS uses ATP and GTP to synthesize 2', 3' -cGAMP (cGAMP), a cyclic dinucleotide second messenger with mixed 2'-5' and 3'-5' phosphodiester bonds. Inappropriate stimulation of cGAS has been implicated in autoimmune disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus, thus inhibition of cGAS may be of therapeutic benefit in some diseases; however, the size and polarity of the cGAS active site makes it a challenging target for the development of conventional substrate-competitive inhibitors. We report here the development of a high affinity (KD = 200 nM) inhibitor from a low affinity fragment hit with supporting biochemical and structural data showing these molecules bind to the cGAS active site. We also report a new high throughput cGAS fluorescence polarization (FP)-based assay to enable the rapid identification and optimization of cGAS inhibitors. This FP assay uses Cy5-labelled cGAMP in combination with a novel high affinity monoclonal antibody that specifically recognizes cGAMP with no cross reactivity to cAMP, cGMP, ATP, or GTP. Given its role in the innate immune response, cGAS is a promising therapeutic target for autoinflammatory disease. Our results demonstrate its druggability, provide a high affinity tool compound, and establish a high throughput assay for the identification of next generation cGAS inhibitors.

The Dual Role of Lipids of the Lipoproteins in Trumenba, a Self-Adjuvanting Vaccine Against Meningococcal Meningitis B Disease.

Trumenba (bivalent rLP2086) is a vaccine licensed for the prevention of meningococcal meningitis disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B (NmB) in individuals 10-25 years of age in the USA. The vaccine is composed of two factor H binding protein (fHbp) variants that were recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli as native lipoproteins: rLP2086-A05 and rLP2086-B01. The vaccine was shown to induce potent bactericidal antibodies against a broad range of NmB isolates expressing fHbp that were different in sequence from the fHbp vaccine antigens. Here, we describe the characterization of the vaccine antigens including the elucidation of their structure which is characterized by two distinct motifs, the polypeptide domain and the N-terminal lipid moiety. In the vaccine formulation, the lipoproteins self-associate to form micelles driven by the hydrophobicity of the lipids and limited by the size of the folded polypeptides. The micelles help to increase the structural stability of the lipoproteins in the absence of bacterial cell walls. Analysis of the lipoproteins in Toll-like receptor (TLR) activation assays revealed their TLR2 agonist activity. This activity was lost with removal of the O-linked fatty acids, similar to removal of all lipids, demonstrating that this moiety plays an adjuvant role in immune activation. The thorough understanding of the structure and function of each moiety of the lipoproteins, as well as their relationship, lays the foundation for identifying critical parameters to guide vaccine development and manufacture.

Application of Fluorescence Polarization in HTS Assays.

Steady-state measurements of fluorescence polarization have been widely adopted in the field of high-throughput screening for the study of biomolecular interactions. This chapter reviews the basic theory of fluorescence polarization, the underlying principle for using fluorescence polarization to study interactions between small-molecule fluorophores and macromolecular targets, and representative applications of fluorescence polarization in high-throughput screening.

Cellular thermal shift and clickable chemical probe assays for the determination of drug-target engagement in live cells.

Proof of drug-target engagement in physiologically-relevant contexts is a key pillar of successful therapeutic target validation. We developed two orthogonal technologies, the cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) and a covalent chemical probe reporter approach (harnessing sulfonyl fluoride tyrosine labeling and subsequent click chemistry) to measure the occupancy of the mRNA-decapping scavenger enzyme DcpS by a small molecule inhibitor in live cells. Enzyme affinity determined using isothermal dose response fingerprinting (ITDRFCETSA) and the concentration required to occupy 50% of the enzyme (OC50) using the chemical probe reporter assay were very similar. In this case, the chemical probe method worked well due to the long offset kinetics of the reversible inhibitor (determined using a fluorescent dye-tagged probe). This work suggests that CETSA could become the first choice assay to determine in-cell target engagement due to its simplicity.

Binding screen for cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator correctors finds new chemical matter and yields insights into cystic fibrosis therapeutic strategy.

The most common mutation in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is deletion of F508 (ΔF508) in the first nucleotide binding domain (NBD1) of the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). ΔF508 causes a decrease in the trafficking of CFTR to the cell surface and reduces the thermal stability of isolated NBD1; it is well established that both of these effects can be rescued by additional revertant mutations in NBD1. The current paradigm in CF small molecule drug discovery is that, like revertant mutations, a path may exist to ΔF508 CFTR correction through a small molecule chaperone binding to NBD1. We, therefore, set out to find small molecule binders of NBD1 and test whether it is possible to develop these molecules into potent binders that increase CFTR trafficking in CF-patient-derived human bronchial epithelial cells. Several fragments were identified that bind NBD1 at either the CFFT-001 site or the BIA site. However, repeated attempts to improve the affinity of these fragments resulted in only modest gains. Although these results cannot prove that there is no possibility of finding a high-affinity small molecule binder of NBD1, they are discouraging and lead us to hypothesize that the nature of these two binding sites, and isolated NBD1 itself, may not contain the features needed to build high-affinity interactions. Future work in this area may, therefore, require constructs including other domains of CFTR in addition to NBD1, if high-affinity small molecule binding is to be achieved.

Engineered stabilization and structural analysis of the autoinhibited conformation of PDE4.

Phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) is an essential contributor to intracellular signaling and an important drug target. The four members of this enzyme family (PDE4A to -D) are functional dimers in which each subunit contains two upstream conserved regions (UCR), UCR1 and -2, which precede the C-terminal catalytic domain. Alternative promoters, transcriptional start sites, and mRNA splicing lead to the existence of over 25 variants of PDE4, broadly classified as long, short, and supershort forms. We report the X-ray crystal structure of long form PDE4B containing UCR1, UCR2, and the catalytic domain, crystallized as a dimer in which a disulfide bond cross-links cysteines engineered into UCR2 and the catalytic domain. Biochemical and mass spectrometric analyses showed that the UCR2-catalytic domain interaction occurs in trans, and established that this interaction regulates the catalytic activity of PDE4. By elucidating the key structural determinants of dimerization, we show that only long forms of PDE4 can be regulated by this mechanism. The results also provide a structural basis for the long-standing observation of high- and low-affinity binding sites for the prototypic inhibitor rolipram.

Chemical and computational methods for the characterization of covalent reactive groups for the prospective design of irreversible inhibitors.

Interest in drugs that covalently modify their target is driven by the desire for enhanced efficacy that can result from the silencing of enzymatic activity until protein resynthesis can occur, along with the potential for increased selectivity by targeting uniquely positioned nucleophilic residues in the protein. However, covalent approaches carry additional risk for toxicities or hypersensitivity reactions that can result from covalent modification of unintended targets. Here we describe methods for measuring the reactivity of covalent reactive groups (CRGs) with a biologically relevant nucleophile, glutathione (GSH), along with kinetic data for a broad array of electrophiles. We also describe a computational method for predicting electrophilic reactivity, which taken together can be applied to the prospective design of thiol-reactive covalent inhibitors.

Selectively targeting an inactive conformation of interleukin-2-inducible T-cell kinase by allosteric inhibitors.

ITK (interleukin-2-inducible T-cell kinase) is a critical component of signal transduction in T-cells and has a well-validated role in their proliferation, cytokine release and chemotaxis. ITK is an attractive target for the treatment of T-cell-mediated inflammatory diseases. In the present study we describe the discovery of kinase inhibitors that preferentially bind to an allosteric pocket of ITK. The novel ITK allosteric site was characterized by NMR, surface plasmon resonance, isothermal titration calorimetry, enzymology and X-ray crystallography. Initial screening hits bound to both the allosteric pocket and the ATP site. Successful lead optimization was achieved by improving the contribution of the allosteric component to the overall inhibition. NMR competition experiments demonstrated that the dual-site binders showed higher affinity for the allosteric site compared with the ATP site. Moreover, an optimized inhibitor displayed non-competitive inhibition with respect to ATP as shown by steady-state enzyme kinetics. The activity of the isolated kinase domain and auto-activation of the full-length enzyme were inhibited with similar potency. However, inhibition of the activated full-length enzyme was weaker, presumably because the allosteric site is altered when ITK becomes activated. An optimized lead showed exquisite kinome selectivity and is efficacious in human whole blood and proximal cell-based assays.

A continuous and direct assay to monitor leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 activity.

Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a multi-domain enzyme displaying activities of GTP hydrolase and protein threonine/serine kinase in separate domains. Mutations in both catalytic domains have been linked to the onset of Parkinson's disease, which triggered high interest in this enzyme as a potential target for drug development, particularly focusing on inhibition of the kinase activity. However, available activity assays are discontinuous, involving either radioactivity detection or coupling with antibodies. Here we describe a continuous and direct assay for LRRK2 kinase activity, combining a reported peptide sequence optimized for LRRK2 binding and an established strategy for fluorescence emission on magnesium ion chelation by phosphorylated peptides carrying an artificial amino acid. The assay was employed to evaluate apparent steady-state parameters for the wild type and two mutant forms of LRRK2 associated with Parkinson's disease as well as to probe the effects of GTP, GDP, and autophosphorylation on the kinase activity of the enzyme. Staurosporine was evaluated as an inhibitor of the wild-type enzyme. It is expected that this assay will aid in mechanistic investigations of LRRK2.

Covalent inhibitors of interleukin-2 inducible T cell kinase (itk) with nanomolar potency in a whole-blood assay.

We wish to report a strategy that targets interleukin-2 inducible T cell kinase (Itk) with covalent inhibitors. Thus far, covalent inhibition of Itk has not been disclosed in the literature. Structure-based drug design was utilized to achieve low nanomolar potency of the disclosed series even at high ATP concentrations. Kinetic measurements confirmed an irreversible binding mode with off-rate half-lives exceeding 24 h and moderate on-rates. The analogues are highly potent in a cellular IP1 assay as well as in a human whole-blood (hWB) assay. Despite a half-life of approximately 2 h in resting primary T cells, the covalent inhibition of Itk resulted in functional silencing of the TCR pathway for more than 24 h. This prolonged effect indicates that covalent inhibition is a viable strategy to target the inactivation of Itk.

Biophysical and mechanistic insights into novel allosteric inhibitor of spleen tyrosine kinase.

Extracellular stimulation of the B cell receptor or mast cell FcεRI receptor activates a cascade of protein kinases, ultimately leading to antigenic or inflammation immune responses, respectively. Syk is a soluble kinase responsible for transmission of the receptor activation signal from the membrane to cytosolic targets. Control of Syk function is, therefore, critical to the human antigenic and inflammation immune response, and an inhibitor of Syk could provide therapy for autoimmune or inflammation diseases. We report here a novel allosteric Syk inhibitor, X1, that is noncompetitive against ATP (K(i) 4 ± 1 µM) and substrate peptide (K(i) 5 ± 1 µM), and competitive against activation of Syk by its upstream regulatory kinase LynB (K(i) 4 ± 1 µM). The inhibition mechanism was interrogated using a combination of structural, biophysical, and kinetic methods, which suggest the compound inhibits Syk by reinforcing the natural regulatory interactions between the SH2 and kinase domains. This novel mode of inhibition provides a new opportunity to improve the selectivity profile of Syk inhibitors for the development of safer drug candidates.

A fluorescent assay suitable for inhibitor screening and vanin tissue quantification.

Vanin-1 is a pantetheinase that catalyzes the hydrolysis of pantetheine to produce pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and cysteamine. Reported here is a highly sensitive fluorescent assay using a novel fluorescently labeled pantothenate derivative. The assay has been used for characterization of a soluble version of human vanin-1 recombinant protein, identification and characterization of hits from high-throughput screening (HTS), and quantification of vanin pantothenase activity in cell lines and tissues. Under optimized assay conditions, we quantified vanin pantothenase activity in tissue lysate and found low activity in lung and liver but high activity in kidney. We demonstrated that the purified recombinant vanin-1 consisting of the extracellular portion without the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) linker was highly active with an apparent K(m) of 28 microM for pantothenate-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (pantothenate-AMC), which was converted to pantothenic acid and AMC based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. The assay also performed well in a 384-well microplate format under initial rate conditions (10% conversion) with a signal-to-background ratio (S/B) of 7 and a Z factor of 0.75. Preliminary screening of a library of 1280 pharmaceutically active compounds identified inhibitors with novel chemical scaffolds. This assay will be a powerful tool for target validation and drug lead identification and characterization.

Discovery and initial optimization of 5,5'-disubstituted aminohydantoins as potent beta-secretase (BACE1) inhibitors.

8,8-Diphenyl-2,3,4,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-6-amine (1) was identified through HTS, as a weak (micromolar) inhibitor of BACE1. X-Ray crystallographic studies indicate the 2-aminoimidazole ring forms key H-bonding interactions with Asp32 and Asp228 in the catalytic site of BACE1. Lead optimization using structure-based focused libraries led to the identification of low nanomolar BACE1 inhibitors such as 20b with substituents which extend from the S(1) to the S(3) pocket.

3,4-Dihydropyrimido(1,2-a)indol-10(2H)-ones as potent non-peptidic inhibitors of caspase-3.

Cysteine-dependant aspartyl protease (caspase) activation has been implicated as a part of the signal transduction pathway leading to apoptosis. It has been postulated that caspase-3 inhibition could attenuate cell damage after an ischemic event and thereby providing for a novel neuroprotective treatment for stroke. As part of a program to develop a small molecule inhibitor of caspase-3, a novel series of 3,4-dihydropyrimido(1,2-a)indol-10(2H)-ones (pyrimidoindolones) was identified. The synthesis, biological evaluation and structure-activity relationships of the pyrimidoindolones are described.

Application of fluorescence polarization in HTS assays.

Steady-state measurements of fluorescence polarization have been widely adopted in the field of high-throughput screening for the study of biomolecular interactions. This chapter reviews the basic theory of fluorescence polarization, the underlying principle for using fluorescence polarization to study interactions between small-molecule fluorophores and macromolecular targets, and representative applications of fluorescence polarization in high-throughput screening.

Activation loop phosphorylation modulates Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) kinase domain activity.

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) plays a central role in signal transduction pathways regulating survival, activation, proliferation, and differentiation of B-lineage lymphoid cells. A number of cell signaling studies clearly show that Btk is activated by Lyn, a Src family kinase, through phosphorylation on activation loop tyrosine 551 (Y(551)). However, the detailed molecular mechanism regulating Btk activation remains unclear. In particular, we do not fully understand the correlation of kinase activity with Y(551) phosphorylation, and the role of the noncatalytic domains of Btk in the activation process. Insect cell expressed full-length Btk is enzymatically active, but a truncated version of Btk, composed of only the kinase catalytic domain, is largely inactive. Further characterization of both forms of Btk by mass spectrometry showed partial phosphorylation of Y(551) of the full-length enzyme and none of the truncated kinase domain. To determine whether the lack of activity of the kinase domain was due to the absence of Y(551) phosphorylation, we developed an in vitro method to generate Y(551) monophosphorylated Btk kinase domain fragment using the Src family kinase Lyn. Detailed kinetic analyses demonstrated that the in vitro phosphorylated Btk kinase domain has a similar activity as the full-length enzyme while the unphosphorylated kinase domain has a very low k(cat) and is largely inactive. A divalent magnesium metal dependence study established that Btk requires a second magnesium ion for activity. Furthermore, our analysis revealed significant differences in the second metal-binding site among the kinase domain and the full-length enzyme that likely account for the difference in their catalytic profile. Taken together, our study provides important mechanistic insights into Btk kinase activity and phosphorylation-mediated regulation.