Open AccessDiscovery of Selective Inhibitors of Endoplasmic Reticulum Aminopeptidase 1
Author(s) -
Zachary Maben,
Richa Arya,
Digamber Rane,
W. Frank An,
Shailesh Metkar,
Marc Hickey,
Samantha Bender,
Akbar Ali,
Truyen Nguyen,
Irini Evnouchidou,
Roger J. Schilling,
Efstratios Stratikos,
Jennifer E. Golden,
Lawrence J. Stern
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of medicinal chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.01
H-Index - 261
eISSN - 1520-4804
pISSN - 0022-2623
DOI - 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b00293
Subject(s) - chemistry , endoplasmic reticulum , aminopeptidase , biochemistry , enzyme , peptide , amino acid , leucine
ERAP1 is an endoplasmic reticulum-resident zinc aminopeptidase that plays an important role in the immune system by trimming peptides for loading onto major histocompatibility complex proteins. Here, we report discovery of the first inhibitors selective for ERAP1 over its paralogues ERAP2 and IRAP. Compound 1 ( N -( N -(2-(1 H -indol-3-yl)ethyl)carbamimidoyl)-2,5-difluorobenzenesulfonamide) and compound 2 (1-(1-(4-acetylpiperazine-1-carbonyl)cyclohexyl)-3-( p -tolyl)urea) are competitive inhibitors of ERAP1 aminopeptidase activity. Compound 3 (4-methoxy-3-( N -(2-(piperidin-1-yl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)sulfamoyl)benzoic acid) allosterically activates ERAP1's hydrolysis of fluorogenic and chromogenic amino acid substrates but competitively inhibits its activity toward a nonamer peptide representative of physiological substrates. Compounds 2 and 3 inhibit antigen presentation in a cellular assay. Compound 3 displays higher potency for an ERAP1 variant associated with increased risk of autoimmune disease. These inhibitors provide mechanistic insights into the determinants of specificity for ERAP1, ERAP2, and IRAP and offer a new therapeutic approach of specifically inhibiting ERAP1 activity in vivo.