I03-Macromolecular Crystallography
I04-1-Macromolecular Crystallography (fixed wavelength)
I04-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Joseph A
Newman
,
Angeline E.
Gavard
,
Nergis
Imprachim
,
Hazel
Aitkenhead
,
Hadley E.
Sheppard
,
Robert
Te Poele
,
Paul A.
Clarke
,
Mohammad Anwar
Hossain
,
Louisa
Temme
,
Hans J.
Oh
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
Zachary W.
Davis-Gilbert
,
Paul
Workman
,
Opher
Gileadi
,
David H.
Drewry
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[18145, 19301, 28172]
Open Access
Abstract: Brachyury is a transcription factor that plays an essential role in tumour growth of the rare bone cancer chordoma and is implicated in other solid tumours. Brachyury is minimally expressed in healthy tissues, making it a potential therapeutic target. Unfortunately, as a ligandless transcription factor, brachyury has historically been considered undruggable. To investigate direct targeting of brachyury by small molecules, we determine the structure of human brachyury both alone and in complex with DNA. The structures provide insights into DNA binding and the context of the chordoma associated G177D variant. We use crystallographic fragment screening to identify hotspots on numerous pockets on the brachyury surface. Finally, we perform follow-up chemistry on fragment hits and describe the progression of a thiazole chemical series into binders with low µM potency. Thus we show that brachyury is ligandable and provide an example of how crystallographic fragment screening may be used to target protein classes that are difficult to address using other approaches.
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Feb 2025
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I04-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Frances M.
Bashore
,
Sophia M.
Min
,
Xiangrong
Chen
,
Stefanie
Howell
,
Caroline H.
Rinderle
,
Gabriel
Morel
,
Josie A.
Silvaroli
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
Bruce A.
Bunnell
,
David H.
Drewry
,
Navjot S.
Pabla
,
Sila K.
Ultanir
,
Alex N.
Bullock
,
Alison D.
Axtman
Open Access
Abstract: Acylaminoindazole-based inhibitors of CDKL2 were identified via analyses of cell-free binding and selectivity data. Compound 9 was selected as a CDKL2 chemical probe based on its potent inhibition of CDKL2 enzymatic activity, engagement of CDKL2 in cells, and excellent kinome-wide selectivity, especially when used in cells. Compound 16 was designed as a negative control to be used alongside compound 9 in experiments to interrogate CDKL2-mediated biology. A solved cocrystal structure of compound 9 bound to CDKL2 highlighted key interactions it makes within its ATP-binding site. Inhibition of downstream phosphorylation of EB2, a CDKL2 substrate, in rat primary neurons provided evidence that engagement of CDKL2 by compound 9 in cells resulted in inhibition of its activity. When used at relevant concentrations, compound 9 does not impact the viability of rat primary neurons or certain breast cancer cells nor elicit consistent changes in the expression of proteins involved in epithelial–mesenchymal transition.
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Aug 2024
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I03-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Václav
Němec
,
Marek
Remeš
,
Petr
Beňovský
,
Michael C.
Böck
,
Eliška
Šranková
,
Jong Fu
Wong
,
Julien
Cros
,
Eleanor
Williams
,
Lap Hang
Tse
,
David
Smil
,
Deeba
Ensan
,
Methvin B.
Isaac
,
Rima
Al-Awar
,
Regina
Gomolková
,
Vlad-Constantin
Ursachi
,
Bohumil
Fafílek
,
Zuzana
Kahounová
,
Ráchel
Víchová
,
Ondřej
Vacek
,
Benedict-Tilman
Berger
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
Cesear R.
Corona
,
James D.
Vasta
,
Matthew B.
Robers
,
Pavel
Krejci
,
Karel
Souček
,
Alex N.
Bullock
,
Stefan
Knapp
,
Kamil
Paruch
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[28172]
Open Access
Abstract: Activin receptor-like kinases 1–7 (ALK1–7) regulate a complex network of SMAD-independent as well as SMAD-dependent signaling pathways. One of the widely used inhibitors for functional investigations of these processes, in particular for bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling, is LDN-193189. However, LDN-193189 has insufficient kinome-wide selectivity complicating its use in cellular target validation assays. Herein, we report the identification and comprehensive characterization of two chemically distinct highly selective inhibitors of ALK1 and ALK2, M4K2234 and MU1700, along with their negative controls. We show that both MU1700 and M4K2234 efficiently block the BMP pathway via selective in cellulo inhibition of ALK1/2 kinases and exhibit favorable in vivo profiles in mice. MU1700 is highly brain penetrant and shows remarkably high accumulation in the brain. These high-quality orthogonal chemical probes offer the selectivity required to become widely used tools for in vitro and in vivo investigation of BMP signaling.
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Jul 2024
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I04-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Han Wee
Ong
,
Yi
Liang
,
William
Richardson
,
Emily R.
Lowry
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
Xiangrong
Chen
,
Margaux
Silvestre
,
Kelvin
Dempster
,
Josie A.
Silvaroli
,
Jeffery L.
Smith
,
Hynek
Wichterle
,
Navjot S.
Pabla
,
Sila K.
Ultanir
,
Alex N.
Bullock
,
David H.
Drewry
,
Alison D.
Axtman
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[28172]
Open Access
Abstract: Despite mediating several essential processes in the brain, including during development, cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) remains a poorly characterized human protein kinase. Accordingly, its substrates, functions, and regulatory mechanisms have not been fully described. We realized that availability of a potent and selective small molecule probe targeting CDKL5 could enable illumination of its roles in normal development as well as in diseases where it has become aberrant due to mutation. We prepared analogs of AT-7519, a compound that has advanced to phase II clinical trials and is a known inhibitor of several cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and cyclin-dependent kinase-like kinases (CDKLs). We identified analog 2 as a highly potent and cell-active chemical probe for CDKL5/GSK3 (glycogen synthase kinase 3). Evaluation of its kinome-wide selectivity confirmed that analog 2 demonstrates excellent selectivity and only retains GSK3α/β affinity. We next demonstrated the inhibition of downstream CDKL5 and GSK3α/β signaling and solved a co-crystal structure of analog 2 bound to human CDKL5. A structurally similar analog (4) proved to lack CDKL5 affinity and maintain potent and selective inhibition of GSK3α/β, making it a suitable negative control. Finally, we used our chemical probe pair (2 and 4) to demonstrate that inhibition of CDKL5 and/or GSK3α/β promotes the survival of human motor neurons exposed to endoplasmic reticulum stress. We have demonstrated a neuroprotective phenotype elicited by our chemical probe pair and exemplified the utility of our compounds to characterize the role of CDKL5/GSK3 in neurons and beyond.
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Apr 2023
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I03-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Benjamin J.
Eduful
,
Sean N.
O'Byrne
,
Louisa
Temme
,
Christopher R. M.
Asquith
,
Yi
Liang
,
Alfredo
Picado
,
Joseph R.
Pilotte
,
Mohammad Anwar
Hossain
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
William J.
Zuercher
,
Carolina M. C.
Catta-Preta
,
Priscila
Zonzini Ramos
,
André De S.
Santiago
,
Rafael M.
Counago
,
Christopher G.
Langendorf
,
Kévin
Nay
,
Jonathan S.
Oakhill
,
Thomas L.
Pulliam
,
Chenchu
Lin
,
Dominik
Awad
,
Timothy M.
Willson
,
Daniel E.
Frigo
,
John W.
Scott
,
David H.
Drewry
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[10619]
Open Access
Abstract: CAMKK2 is a serine/threonine kinase and an activator of AMPK whose dysregulation is linked with multiple diseases. Unfortunately, STO-609, the tool inhibitor commonly used to probe CAMKK2 signaling, has limitations. To identify promising scaffolds as starting points for the development of high-quality CAMKK2 chemical probes, we utilized a hinge-binding scaffold hopping strategy to design new CAMKK2 inhibitors. Starting from the potent but promiscuous disubstituted 7-azaindole GSK650934, a total of 32 compounds, composed of single-ring, 5,6-, and 6,6-fused heteroaromatic cores, were synthesized. The compound set was specifically designed to probe interactions with the kinase hinge-binding residues. Compared to GSK650394 and STO-609, 13 compounds displayed similar or better CAMKK2 inhibitory potency in vitro, while compounds 13g and 45 had improved selectivity for CAMKK2 across the kinome. Our systematic survey of hinge-binding chemotypes identified several potent and selective inhibitors of CAMKK2 to serve as starting points for medicinal chemistry programs.
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Jul 2021
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I02-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Alfredo
Picado
,
Apirat
Chaikuad
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
Safal
Shrestha
,
William J.
Zuercher
,
Julie E.
Pickett
,
Frank E.
Kwarcinski
,
Parvathi
Sinha
,
Chandi S.
De Silva
,
Reena
Zutshi
,
Shubin
Liu
,
Natarajan
Kannan
,
Stefan
Knapp
,
David H.
Drewry
,
Timothy M.
Willson
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[442]
Abstract: STK17B is a member of the death-associated protein kinase family and has been genetically linked to the development of diverse diseases. However, the role of STK17B in normal and disease pathology is poorly defined. Here, we present the discovery of thieno[3,2-d] pyrimidine SGC-STK17B-1 (11s), a high-quality chemical probe for this understudied “dark” kinase. 11s is an ATP-competitive inhibitor that showed remarkable selectivity over other kinases including the closely related STK17A. X-ray crystallography of 11s and related thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidines bound to STK17B revealed a unique P-loop conformation characterized by a salt bridge between R41 and the carboxylic acid of the inhibitor. Molecular dynamic simulations of STK17B revealed the flexibility of the P-loop and a wide range of R41 conformations available to the apo-protein. The isomeric thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine SGC-STK17B-1N (19g) was identified as a negative control compound. The >100-fold lower activity of 19g on STK17B was attributed to the reduced basicity of its pyrimidine N1.
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Nov 2020
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I24-Microfocus Macromolecular Crystallography
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Gerson S.
Profeta
,
Caio V.
Dos Reis
,
André Da S.
Santiago
,
Paulo H. C.
Godoi
,
Angela M.
Fala
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
Roger
Sartori
,
Anita P. T.
Salmazo
,
Priscila Z.
Ramos
,
Katlin B.
Massirer
,
Jonathan M.
Elkins
,
David H.
Drewry
,
Opher
Gileadi
,
Rafael M.
Counago
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[16171]
Open Access
Abstract: Calcium/Calmodulin-dependent Protein Kinase Kinase 2 (CAMKK2) acts as a signaling hub, receiving signals from various regulatory pathways and decoding them via phosphorylation of downstream protein kinases - such as AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) and CAMK types I and IV. CAMKK2 relevance is highlighted by its constitutive activity being implicated in several human pathologies. However, at present, there are no selective small-molecule inhibitors available for this protein kinase. Moreover, CAMKK2 and its closest human homolog, CAMKK1, are thought to have overlapping biological roles. Here we present six new co-structures of potent ligands bound to CAMKK2 identified from a library of commercially-available kinase inhibitors. Enzyme assays confirmed that most of these compounds are equipotent inhibitors of both human CAMKKs and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) revealed that binding to some of these molecules to CAMKK2 is enthalpy driven. We expect our results to advance current efforts to discover small molecule kinase inhibitors selective to each human CAMKK.
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Nov 2019
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I03-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Carrow
Wells
,
Rafael M.
Counago
,
Juanita C.
Limas
,
Tuanny L.
Almeida
,
Jeanette Gowen
Cook
,
David H
Drewry
,
Jonathan M.
Elkins
,
Opher
Gileadi
,
Nirav R.
Kapadia
,
Alvaro
Lorente-Macias
,
Julie E.
Pickett
,
Alexander
Riemen
,
Roberta R.
Ruela-De-Sousa
,
Timothy M.
Willson
,
Cunyu
Zhang
,
William J
Zuercher
,
Reena
Zutshi
,
Alison D.
Axtman
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[14664]
Abstract: Inhibitors based on a 3-acylaminoindazole scaffold were synthesized to yield potent dual AAK1/BMP2K inhibitors. Optimization furnished a small molecule chemical probe (SGC-AAK1-1, 25) that is potent and selective for AAK1/BMP2K over other NAK family members, demonstrates narrow activity in a kinome-wide screen, and is functionally active in cells. This inhibitor represents one of the best available small molecule tools to study the functions of AAK1 and BMP2K.
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Oct 2019
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I02-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Megan J.
Agajanian
,
Matthew P.
Walker
,
Alison D.
Axtman
,
Roberta R.
Ruela-De-Sousa
,
D. Stephen
Serafin
,
Alex D.
Rabinowitz
,
David M.
Graham
,
Meagan B.
Ryan
,
Tigist
Tamir
,
Yuko
Nakamichi
,
Melissa V.
Gammons
,
James M.
Bennett
,
Rafael M.
Counago
,
David H.
Drewry
,
Jonathan M.
Elkins
,
Carina
Gileadi
,
Opher
Gileadi
,
Paulo H.
Godoi
,
Nirav
Kapadia
,
Susanne
Müller
,
André S.
Santiago
,
Fiona J.
Sorrell
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
Oleg
Fedorov
,
Timothy M.
Willson
,
William J.
Zuercher
,
Michael B.
Major
Open Access
Abstract: β-Catenin-dependent WNT signal transduction governs development, tissue homeostasis, and a vast array of human diseases. Signal propagation through a WNT-Frizzled/LRP receptor complex requires proteins necessary for clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). Paradoxically, CME also negatively regulates WNT signaling through internalization and degradation of the receptor complex. Here, using a gain-of-function screen of the human kinome, we report that the AP2 associated kinase 1 (AAK1), a known CME enhancer, inhibits WNT signaling. Reciprocally, AAK1 genetic silencing or its pharmacological inhibition using a potent and selective inhibitor activates WNT signaling. Mechanistically, we show that AAK1 promotes clearance of LRP6 from the plasma membrane to suppress the WNT pathway. Time-course experiments support a transcription-uncoupled, WNT-driven negative feedback loop; prolonged WNT treatment drives AAK1-dependent phosphorylation of AP2M1, clathrin-coated pit maturation, and endocytosis of LRP6. We propose that, following WNT receptor activation, increased AAK1 function and CME limits WNT signaling longevity.
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Jan 2019
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I02-Macromolecular Crystallography
I03-Macromolecular Crystallography
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Rafael M.
Counago
,
Charles K.
Allerston
,
Pavel
Savitsky
,
Hatylas
Azevedo
,
Paulo H.
Godoi
,
Carrow I.
Wells
,
Alessandra
Mascarello
,
Fernando H.
De Souza Gama
,
Katlin B.
Massirer
,
William J.
Zuercher
,
Cristiano R. W.
Guimarães
,
Opher
Gileadi
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[12988, 10619]
Open Access
Abstract: The human genome encodes two active Vaccinia-related protein kinases (VRK), VRK1 and VRK2. These proteins have been implicated in a number of cellular processes and linked to a variety of tumors. However, understanding the cellular role of VRKs and establishing their potential use as targets for therapeutic intervention has been limited by the lack of tool compounds that can specifically modulate the activity of these kinases in cells. Here we identified BI-D1870, a dihydropteridine inhibitor of RSK kinases, as a promising starting point for the development of chemical probes targeting the active VRKs. We solved co-crystal structures of both VRK1 and VRK2 bound to BI-D1870 and of VRK1 bound to two broad-spectrum inhibitors. These structures revealed that both VRKs can adopt a P-loop folded conformation, which is stabilized by different mechanisms on each protein. Based on these structures, we suggest modifications to the dihydropteridine scaffold that can be explored to produce potent and specific inhibitors towards VRK1 and VRK2.
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Dec 2017
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