<p>Disulfide tethering is a site-directed method of drug discovery used to identify hits for challenging targets. We applied tethering to target oncogenic KRAS, a small GTPase once considered undruggable due to its high nucleotide affinity and a perceived absence of binding sites. We prepared a library of 2160 disulfide-containing fragments. We screened over 1000 compounds against a panel of 83 engineered cysteine mutants of KRAS G12D in the active conformation and screened the full library for a subset of 30 mutants. For select mutants and hits, we performed 2-mercaptoethanol competition assays&#xa0;(βME-50) to prioritize ligands. Ligandability analysis comparing hit rates across mutant residues enabled the identification of druggable hot spots. Our studies confirmed known binding sites, including the Switch-II / α-helix 3 pocket. In addition, we identified previously undescribed cryptic pockets and validated select hits using computational chemistry and NMR spectroscopy. These pockets represent promising opportunities for future drug discovery campaigns.</p>

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Disulfide tethering reveals cryptic pockets in oncogenic KRAS

  • Trent E. Balius,
  • Marcin Dyba,
  • Vandana Kumari,
  • John-Paul Denson,
  • Ming Yi,
  • Alok K. Sharma,
  • Priyanka Prakash,
  • Emily Alberico,
  • Simon Messing,
  • Vanessa Wall,
  • Albert H. Chan,
  • Dhirendra K. Simanshu,
  • Dwight V. Nissley,
  • Frank McCormick,
  • Dominic Esposito,
  • Anna E. Maciag,
  • David M. Turner

摘要

Disulfide tethering is a site-directed method of drug discovery used to identify hits for challenging targets. We applied tethering to target oncogenic KRAS, a small GTPase once considered undruggable due to its high nucleotide affinity and a perceived absence of binding sites. We prepared a library of 2160 disulfide-containing fragments. We screened over 1000 compounds against a panel of 83 engineered cysteine mutants of KRAS G12D in the active conformation and screened the full library for a subset of 30 mutants. For select mutants and hits, we performed 2-mercaptoethanol competition assays (βME-50) to prioritize ligands. Ligandability analysis comparing hit rates across mutant residues enabled the identification of druggable hot spots. Our studies confirmed known binding sites, including the Switch-II / α-helix 3 pocket. In addition, we identified previously undescribed cryptic pockets and validated select hits using computational chemistry and NMR spectroscopy. These pockets represent promising opportunities for future drug discovery campaigns.