Targeting the Allosteric Pathway That Interconnects the Core-Functional Scaffold and the Distal Phosphorylation Sites for Specific Dephosphorylation of Bcl-2

J Med Chem. 2020 Nov 25;63(22):13733-13744. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c01290. Epub 2020 Nov 16.

Abstract

Protein phosphorylation is the most significant post-translational modification for regulating cellular activities, but site-specific modulation of phosphorylation is still challenging. Using three-dimensional NMR spectra, molecular dynamics simulations, and alanine mutations, we identified that the interaction network between pT69/pS70 and R106/R109 residues prevents the phosphorylation sites from exposure to phosphatase and subsequent dephosphorylation. A Bcl-2-dephosphorylation probe, S1-6e, was designed by installing a carboxylic acid group to a Bcl-2 inhibitor. The carboxyl group competitively disrupts the interaction network between R106/R109 and pT69/pS70 and subsequently facilitates Bcl-2 dephosphorylation in living cells. As a result, S1-6e manifests a more effective apoptosis induction in pBcl-2-dependent cancer cells than other inhibitors exhibiting a similar binding affinity for Bcl-2. We believe that targeting the allosteric pathways interconnecting the core-functional domain and the phosphorylation site can be a general strategy for a rational design of site-specific dephosphorylating probes, since the allosteric pathway has been discovered in a variety of proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Allosteric Regulation / drug effects
  • Allosteric Regulation / physiology
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Drug Delivery Systems / methods*
  • HL-60 Cells
  • Humans
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism
  • Peptide Fragments / pharmacology
  • Phosphorylation / drug effects
  • Phosphorylation / physiology
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / chemistry
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects*
  • Signal Transduction / physiology

Substances

  • BCL2 protein, human
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2