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© 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ; We describe maleic-acid derivatives as robust cysteine-selective reagents for protein labelling with comparable kinetics and superior stability relative to maleimides. Diamide and amido-ester derivatives proved to be efficient protein-labelling species with a common mechanism in which a spontaneous cyclization occurs upon addition to cysteine. Introduction of chlorine atoms in their structures triggers ring hydrolysis or further conjugation with adjacent residues, which results in conjugates that are completely resistant to retro-Michael reactions in the presence of biological thiols and human plasma. By controlling the microenvironment of the reactive site, we can control selectivity towards the hydrolytic pathway, forming homogeneous conjugates. The method is applicable to several scaffolds and enables conjugation of different payloads. The synthetic accessibility of these reagents and the mild conditions required for fast and complete conjugation together with the superior stability of the conjugates make this strategy an important alternative to maleimides in bioconjugation. ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement N° 836698 and under grant agreement N° 852985. Funding from the Scripps Research Institute (A.A.), FCT Portugal (PhD scholarship PD/BD/135512/2018 to C.F.A. and FCT Stimulus CEECIND/00453/2018 to G.J.L.B.) and Agencia Estatal Investigación of Spain (AEI; Grant RTI2018-099592-B-C21 to F.C.) is also acknowledged. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ; The emergence of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains highlights the need to develop more efficacious and potent drugs. However, this goal is dependent on a comprehensive understanding of Mtb virulence protein effectors at the molecular level. Here, we used a post-expression cysteine (Cys)-to-dehydrolanine (Dha) chemical editing strategy to identify a water-mediated motif that modulates accessibility of the protein tyrosine phosphatase A (PtpA) catalytic pocket. Importantly, this water-mediated Cys-Cys non-covalent motif is also present in the phosphatase SptpA from Staphylococcus aureus, which suggests a potentially preserved structural feature among bacterial tyrosine phosphatases. The identification of this structural water provides insight into the known resistance of Mtb PtpA to the oxidative conditions that prevail within an infected host macrophage. This strategy could be applied to extend the understanding of the dynamics and function(s) of proteins in their native state and ultimately aid in the design of small-molecule modulators. ; We thank CNPq Brazil (fellowship 200456/2015-6 to J.B.B. and grants 454507/2014-3 and 300606/2010-9 to H.T.), the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT Investigator award IF/00624/2015 to G.J.L.B.), the European Union (Marie-Sklodowska Curie Innovative Training Network Protein Conjugates; Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship 743640 to T.R.; Marie-Curie Intra-European Fellowship 626890 to O.B.), the Ministerio de Economía, Industria, y Competitividad (project CTQ2015-67727-R to F.C.), and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (PhD studentship to L.D.) for funding. G.J.L.B. is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and the recipient of a European Research Council Starting Grant (TagIt, 676832). We also acknowledge funding by LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007391, co-financed ...

The emergence of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains highlights the need to develop more efficacious and potent drugs. However, this goal is dependent on a comprehensive understanding of Mtb virulence protein effectors at the molecular level. Here, we used a post-expression cysteine (Cys)-to-dehydrolanine (Dha) chemical editing strategy to identify a water-mediated motif that modulates accessibility of the protein tyrosine phosphatase A (PtpA) catalytic pocket. Importantly, this water-mediated Cys-Cys non-covalent motif is also present in the phosphatase SptpA from Staphylococcus aureus, which suggests a potentially preserved structural feature among bacterial tyrosine phosphatases. The identification of this structural water provides insight into the known resistance of Mtb PtpA to the oxidative conditions that prevail within an infected host macrophage. This strategy could be applied to extend the understanding of the dynamics and function(s) of proteins in their native state and ultimately aid in the design of small-molecule modulators. ; e thank CNPq Brazil (fellowship 200456/2015-6 to J.B.B. and grants 454507/2014-3 and 300606/2010-9 to H.T.), the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT Investigator award IF/00624/2015 to G.J.L.B.), the European Union (Marie-Sklodowska Curie Innovative Training Network Protein Conjugates; Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship 743640 to T.R.; Marie-Curie Intra-European Fellowship 626890 to O.B.), the Ministerio de Economía, Industria, y Competitividad (project CTQ2015-67727-R to F.C.), and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (PhD studentship to L.D.) for funding. G.J.L.B. is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and the recipient of a European Research Council Starting Grant (TagIt, 676832 ). We also acknowledge funding by LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007391, co-financed by FEDER through the Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa (Lisboa 2020) of PORTUGAL 2020 and by FCT Portugal.

Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society ; Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a class of targeted therapeutics used to selectively kill cancer cells. It is important that they remain intact in the bloodstream and release their payload in the target cancer cell for maximum efficacy and minimum toxicity. The development of effective ADCs requires the study of factors that can alter the stability of these therapeutics at the atomic level. Here, we present a general strategy that combines synthesis, bioconjugation, linker technology, site-directed mutagenesis, and modeling to investigate the influence of the site and microenvironment of the trastuzumab antibody on the stability of the conjugation and linkers. Trastuzumab is widely used to produce targeted ADCs because it can target with high specificity a receptor that is overexpressed in certain breast cancer cells (HER2). We show that the chemical environment of the conjugation site of trastuzumab plays a key role in the stability of linkers featuring acid-sensitive groups such as acetals. More specifically, Lys-207, located near the reactive Cys-205 of a thiomab variant of the antibody, may act as an acid catalyst and promote the hydrolysis of acetals. Mutation of Lys-207 into an alanine or using a longer linker that separates this residue from the acetal group stabilizes the conjugates. Analogously, Lys-207 promotes the beneficial hydrolysis of the succinimide ring when maleimide reagents are used for conjugation, thus stabilizing the subsequent ADCs by impairing the undesired retro-Michael reactions. This work provides new insights for the design of novel ADCs with improved stability properties. ; We thank the Agencia Estatal Investigación of Spain (AEI; Grants RTI2018-099592-B-C21 to F.C. and RTI2018-099592-B-C22 to G.J.-O.). This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 675007. E.J.-M. thanks Universidad de la Rioja for ...

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020. ; The bone marrow tyrosine kinase in chromosome X (BMX) is pursued as a drug target because of its role in various pathophysiological processes. We designed BMX covalent inhibitors with single-digit nanomolar potency with unexploited topological pharmacophore patterns. Importantly, we reveal the first X-ray crystal structure of covalently inhibited BMX at Cys496, which displays key interactions with Lys445, responsible for hampering ATP catalysis and the DFG-out-like motif, typical of an inactive conformation. Molecular dynamic simulations also showed this interaction for two ligand/BMX complexes. Kinome selectivity profiling showed that the most potent compound is the strongest binder, displays intracellular target engagement in BMX-transfected cells with two-digit nanomolar inhibitory potency, and leads to BMX degradation PC3 in cells. The new inhibitors displayed anti-proliferative effects in androgen-receptor positive prostate cancer cells that where further increased when combined with known inhibitors of related signaling pathways, such as PI3K, AKT and Androgen Receptor. We expect these findings to guide development of new selective BMX therapeutic approaches. ; Funded under the Royal Society (URF to G. J. L. B., URF\R\180019), FCT Portugal (iFCT to G. J. L. B., IF/00624/2015, Postdoctoral Fellowship SFRH/BPD/95253/2013 to J. D. S., project PTDC/MED-QUI/28764/2017 to J. D. S., 02/SAICT/2017 grant 28333 to T. R., doctoral studentship SFRH/BD/143583/2019 to B. B. S., and DL 57/2016/CP1451/CT0025 to J. D. S.). This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No. 807281 and 702428. The authors acknowledge the Wellcome Trust (104633/Z/14/Z, to D. W. and C. V. R.), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (project RTI2018-099592-B-C21 to F. C.), the Royal G. and Mae H. Westaway Family Memorial Fund (A. N. K.), National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (Grant No ...

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ; Anti-obesity drugs in the amphetamine (AMPH) class act in the brain to reduce appetite and increase locomotion. They are also characterized by adverse cardiovascular effects with origin that, despite absence of any in vivo evidence, is attributed to a direct sympathomimetic action in the heart. Here, we show that the cardiac side effects of AMPH originate from the brain and can be circumvented by PEGylation (PEGyAMPH) to exclude its central action. PEGyAMPH does not enter the brain and facilitates SNS activity via theβ2-adrenoceptor, protecting mice against obesity by increasing lipolysis and thermogenesis, coupled to higher heat dissipation, which acts as an energy sink to increase energy expenditure without altering food intake or locomotor activity. Thus, we provide proof-of-principle for a novel class of exclusively peripheral anti-obesity sympathofacilitators that are devoid of any cardiovascular and brain-related side effects. ; This work was supported by the Fundação Para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT - PTDC-BIM-MET-3750-2014 and LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-030892), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO - Installation Grant 3037), the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP - RGY0070/2016), Maratona da Saúde (Diabetes - 2016), the European Research Council (ERC-2017-COG-771431), and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Wellcome International research scholar award (HHMI - 208576/Z/17/Z). G.J.L.B. is a Royal Society university Research Fellow (URF\R\180019) and FCT Investigator (IF/00624/2015). B.J. and A.K. were supported by the BBSRC (BB/M027252/1/bbsrc). We also acknowledge the Portuguese Mass Spectrometry Network (LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-022125), the Project EU_FT-ICR_MS, funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 731077. The contribution of Y.S., M.O., and F.C. was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia, ...

Funding: We thank Sabine Baxter for assistance with hybridoma and cell culture at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Cell Center Services Facility. We acknowledge the use of cryo-EM instruments at Pfizer Inc. The cryo-EM work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Health (R01GM103899 and R01GM129357 to V.Y.M.-B.). The TRPV2-flag-RFP construct cloned into the pEGFP-N2 vector was kindly provided by Prof. Kojima (Gunma University, Japan). The Developmental Therapeutics Program is acknowledged for screening PL against the NCI-60 cancer cell line panel. We are grateful to Carlos Custódia, Eunice Paisana, and Dr. Joao Barata for their assistance with cell-line modulation ̃ and the GBM tumor model, and to Dr. Vikki Cantrill for her assistance with the editing of this manuscript. Figure design by Claudia Flandoli (draw.science). The Histology and Comparative Pathology Laboratory of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular is acknowledged for technical support. We also thank FCT Portugal (FCT Investigator IF/00624/2015 to G.J.L.B., IF/01693/2014 to V.A.M. and IF/00595/2014 to N.L.B.-M., CEECIND/00436/2018 to N.L.B.-M., PhD studentship SFRH/BD/143583/2019 to B.B.S., PhD studentship PD/BD/128289/2017 to E.P.L., Postdoctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/1187731/2016 to M.C.M.), Agencia Estatal Investigación of Spain (AEI, RTI-2018-099592-B-C21 to F.C.), EMBO (Installation Grant 3057 to N.L.B.-M.), and the Medical Research Council (MR/N010051/1 to P.F.). This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 630731, 675007, 807281, and 743640. G.J.L.B. is a Royal Society University Research Fellow (URF\R\180019). ; The use of computational tools to identify biological targets of natural products with anticancer properties and unknown modes of action is gaining momentum. We employed self-organizing maps to deconvolute the phenotypic effects of piperlongumine (PL) and establish a link to modulation of the human transient receptor potential vanilloid 2 (hTRPV2) channel. The structure of the PL-bound full-length rat TRPV2 channel was determined by cryo-EM. PL binds to a transient allosteric pocket responsible for a new mode of anticancer activity against glioblastoma (GBM) in which hTRPV2 is overexpressed. Calcium imaging experiments revealed the importance of Arg539 and Thr522 residues on the antagonistic effect of PL and calcium influx modulation of the TRPV2 channel. Downregulation of hTRPV2 reduces sensitivity to PL and decreases ROS production. Analysis of GBM patient samples associates hTRPV2 overexpression with tumor grade, disease progression, and poor prognosis. Extensive tumor abrogation and long term survival was achieved in two murine models of orthotopic GBM by formulating PL in an implantable scaffold/hydrogel for sustained local therapy. Furthermore, in primary tumor samples derived from GBM patients, we observed a selective reduction of malignant cells in response to PL ex vivo. Our results establish a broadly applicable strategy, leveraging data-motivated research hypotheses for the discovery of novel means tackling cancer. ; publishersversion ; published