Open AccessSelective Degradation of GSPT1 by Cereblon Modulators Identified via a Focused Combinatorial Library
Author(s) -
Chelsea E. Powell,
Guocheng Du,
Jianwei Che,
Zhixiang He,
Katherine A. Donovan,
Hong Yue,
Eric S. Wang,
Radosław P. Nowak,
Tinghu Zhang,
Eric S. Fischer,
Nathanael S. Gray
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
acs chemical biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.899
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1554-8937
pISSN - 1554-8929
DOI - 10.1021/acschembio.0c00520
Subject(s) - cereblon , chemistry , computational biology , ubiquitin ligase , peptoid , chemical library , chemical biology , small molecule , pomalidomide , lenalidomide , biochemistry , biology , ubiquitin , multiple myeloma , gene , peptide , immunology
Cereblon (CRBN) is an E3 ligase adapter protein that can be reprogrammed by imide-class compounds such as thalidomide, lenalidomide, and pomalidomide to induce the degradation of neo-substrate proteins. In order to identify additional small molecule CRBN modulators, we implemented a focused combinatorial library approach where we fused an imide-based CRBN-binding pharmacophore to a heterocyclic scaffold, which could be further elaborated. We screened the library for CRBN-dependent antiproliferative activity in the multiple myeloma cell line MM1.S and identified five hit compounds. Quantitative chemical proteomics of hit compounds revealed that they induced selective degradation of GSPT1, a translation termination factor that is currently being explored as a therapeutic target for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Molecular docking studies with CRBN and GSPT1 followed by analogue synthesis identified a possible hydrogen bond interaction with the central pyrimidine ring as a molecular determinant of hit compounds' selectivity. This study demonstrates that a focused combinatorial library design, phenotypic screening, and chemical proteomics can provide a suitable workflow to efficiently identify novel CRBN modulators.