Alpha helix mimetic

The binding of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor expressed on the host cells is a critical initial step for viral infection. This interaction is blocked through competitive inhibition by soluble ACE2 protein. Therefore, developing high-affinity and cost-effective ACE2 mimetic ligands that disrupt this protein-protein interaction is a promising strategy for viral diagnostics and therapy. We employed human and plant defensins, a class of small (2-5 kDa) and highly stable proteins containing solvent-exposed alpha-helix, conformationally constrained by two disulfide bonds...

Human 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) initiates the synthesis of the leukotrienes (LT) through a two-step reaction: addition of molecular oxygen to arachidonic acid (AA) into 5-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HPETE) and hydrolysis of 5-HPETE into leukotriene A4. LTs are highly potent, pro-inflammatory mediators, which have been implicated in asthmatic and allergic responses. 5-LOX is mobilized in leukocytes by Ca2+ binding and targets to the membrane to receive substrate from its helper protein, 5-lipoxygenase-activating protein (FLAP)...

Mutations at different stages of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway lead to aberrant activation of the involved protein kinase entities. These oncogenic modifications alter signal propagation which converge on the gatekeeper kinases MEK1/2, transmitting the input signal to ERK1/2. Thus, targeted MEK inhibition causes qualitative alterations of carcinogenic MAPK signals. Phosphorylation of the MEK1 activation loop at the positions S218 and S222 by RAF kinases triggers the conformational alignment of MEK's catalytic pocket to enable ATP-binding and substrate phosphorylation...

Herpesviruses are the most prevalent viruses that infect the human and animal body. They can escape a host immune response in numerous ways. One way is to block the TAP complex so that viral peptides, originating from proteasomal degradation, cannot be transported to the endoplasmic reticulum. As a result, a reduced number of MHC class I molecules appear on the surface of infected cells and, thus, the immune system is not efficiently activated. BoHV-1-encoded UL49.5 protein is one such TAP transporter inhibitor...

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are multifunctional cytokines of the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) superfamily with potential therapeutic applications due to their broad biological functionality. Designing BMP mimetics with specific activity will contribute to the translational potential of BMP-based therapies. Here, we report a BMP9 peptide mimetic, P3, designed from the type I receptor binding site, which showed millimolar binding affinities for the type I receptor activin receptor like kinase 1 (ALK1), ALK2 and ALK3...

The cellular inhibitor of apoptosis 1 (cIAP1) is an E3-ubiquitin ligase that regulates cell signaling pathways involved in fundamental cellular processes including cell death, cell proliferation, cell differentiation and inflammation. It recruits ubiquitination substrates thanks to the presence of three baculoviral IAP repeat (BIR) domains at its N-terminal extremity. We previously demonstrated that cIAP1 promoted the ubiquitination of the E2 factor 1 (E2F1) transcription factor. Moreover, we showed that cIAP1 was required for E2F1 stabilization during the S phase of cell cycle and in response to DNA damage...

The design and synthesis of oligoamide α-helix peptidomimetics is reported. The oligoamide type systems are prepared in a modular fashion by coupling the monomers using palladium-catalyzed carbonylation chemistry. This enabled us to use substrates with a low nucleophilicity, leading to previously unreported pyrazine based oligoamide α-helix mimetics. The proof of principle is given by synthesizing a small set of compounds. Various end-capping groups were introduced and also a mixed multimer was successfully prepared...

Changes in pH can alter the structure and activity of proteins and may be used by the cell to control molecular function. This coupling can also be used in non-native applications through the design of pH-sensitive biomolecules. For example, the pH (low) insertion peptide (pHLIP) can spontaneously insert into a lipid bilayer when the pH decreases. We have previously shown that the α-helicity and helix-helix interactions of the TM2 α-helix of the proteolipid protein (PLP) are sensitive to the local hydrophobicity at its C-terminus...

Herein, we report studies leading to the discovery of the neoseptins and a comprehensive examination of the structure-activity relationships (SARs) of this new class of small-molecule mouse Toll-like receptor 4 (mTLR4) agonists. The compounds in this class, which emerged from screening an α-helix mimetic library, stimulate the immune response, act by a well-defined mechanism (mouse TLR4 agonist), are easy to produce and structurally manipulate, exhibit exquisite SARs, are nontoxic, and elicit improved and qualitatively different responses compared to lipopolysaccharide, even though they share the same receptor...

α-Helix-mediated protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are important targets for small-molecule inhibition; however, generic approaches to inhibitor design are in their infancy and would benefit from QSAR analyses to rationalise the noncovalent basis of molecular recognition by designed ligands. Using a helix mimetic based on an oligoamide scaffold, we have exploited the power of a modular synthesis to access compounds that can readily be used to understand the noncovalent determinants of hDM2 recognition by this series of cell-active p53/hDM2 inhibitors...

We report the discovery of a peptide stapling and macrocyclization method using thiol-ene reactions between two cysteine residues and an α,ω-diene in high yields. This new approach enabled us to selectively modify cysteine residues in native, unprotected peptides with a variety of stapling modifications for helix stabilization or general macrocyclization. We synthesized stapled Axin mimetic analogues and demonstrated increased alpha helicity upon peptide stapling. We then synthesized stapled p53 mimetic analogues using pure hydrocarbon linkers and demonstrated their abilities to block the p53-MDM2 interaction and selectively kill p53 wild-type colorectal carcinoma HCT-116 cells but not p53 null cells...

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide and new approaches for both diagnosis and treatment are required. Autoantibodies directed against apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) represent promising biomarkers for use in risk stratification of CVD and may also play a direct role in pathogenesis. METHODOLOGY: To characterize the anti-ApoA-I autoantibody response, we measured the immunoreactivity to engineered peptides corresponding to the different alpha-helical regions of ApoA-I, using plasma from acute chest pain cohort patients known to be positive for anti-ApoA-I autoantibodies...

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) are G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are activated by acetylcholine released from parasympathetic nerves. The mAChR family comprises 5 subtypes, m1-m5, each of which has a different coupling selectivity for heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins (G-proteins). m4 mAChR specifically activates the Gi/o family by enhancing the guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) reaction with the Gα subunit through an interaction that occurs via intracellular segments. Here, we report that the m4 mAChR mimetic peptide m4i3c(14)Gly, comprising 14 residues in the junction between the intracellular third loop (i3c) and transmembrane helix VI (TM-VI) extended with a C-terminal glycine residue, presents GEF activity toward the Gi1 α subunit (Gαi1)...

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are remarkably versatile signaling systems that are activated by a large number of different agonists on the outside of the cell. However, the inside surface of the receptors that couple to G proteins has not yet been effectively modulated for activity or treatment of diseases. Pepducins are cell-penetrating lipopeptides that have enabled chemical and physical access to the intracellular face of GPCRs. The structure of a third intracellular (i3) loop agonist, pepducin, based on protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR1) was solved by NMR and found to closely resemble the i3 loop structure predicted for the intact receptor in the on-state...

Peptide-based agents derived from well-defined scaffolds offer an alternative to antibodies for selective and high-affinity recognition of large and topologically complex protein surfaces. Here, we describe a strategy for designing oligomers containing both α- and β-amino acid residues ("α/β-peptides") that mimic several peptides derived from the three-helix bundle "Z-domain" scaffold. We show that α/β-peptides derived from a Z-domain peptide targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) can structurally and functionally mimic the binding surface of the parent peptide while exhibiting significantly decreased susceptibility to proteolysis...

Protein-protein interactions encompass large surface areas, but often a handful of key residues dominate the binding energy landscape. Rationally designed small molecule scaffolds that reproduce the relative positioning and disposition of important binding residues, termed "hotspot residues", have been shown to successfully inhibit specific protein complexes. Although this strategy has led to development of novel synthetic inhibitors of protein complexes, often direct mimicry of natural amino acid residues does not lead to potent inhibitors...

Development of small-molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions is a fundamental challenge at the interface of chemistry and cancer biology. Successful methods for design of protein-protein interaction inhibitors include computational and experimental high-throughput and fragment-based screening strategies to locate small-molecule fragments that bind protein surfaces. An alternative rational design approach seeks to mimic the orientation and disposition of critical binding residues at protein interfaces...

The therapeutically relevant hypoxia inducible factor HIF-1α-p300 protein-protein interaction can be orthosterically inhibited with α-helix mimetics based on an oligoamide scaffold that recapitulates essential features of the C-terminal helix of the HIF-1α C-TAD (C-terminal transactivation domain). Preliminary SAR studies demonstrated the important role of side-chain size and hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity in determining potency. These small molecules represent the first biophysically characterised HIF-1α-p300 PPI inhibitors and the first examples of small-molecule aromatic oligoamide helix mimetics to be shown to have a selective binding profile...

Serum paraoxonase 1 (PON1) is a high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-bound mammalian enzyme exhibiting antiatherosclerotic activity. Despite years of research, an accurate model for the binding interaction between PON1 and HDL has not been established. However, it is reported that anchoring of PON1 to HDL is mainly governed by an N-terminal alpha helix H1 and another short helix H2. Here, we studied the molecular association of full-length human PON1 (huPON1) with a HDL-mimetic dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayer using homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations...

Inflammatory angiogenesis involves the induction of a novel gene ZC3H12A encoding monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1)-induced protein-1 (MCPIP1) that has deubiquitinase and antidicer RNAse activities. If and how these enzymatic activities of MCPIP1 mediate the biological functions of MCPIP1 are unknown. Present studies with human umbilical vein endothelial cells suggest that MCPIP-induced angiogenesis is mediated via hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and silent information regulator (SIRT-1) induction that results in the inhibition of angiogenesis inhibitor thrombospondin-1...