Ten novel taxanes bearing modifications at the C2 and C13 positions of the baccatin core have been synthesized and their binding affinities for mammalian tubulin have been experimentally measured. The design strategy was guided by (i) calculation of interaction energy maps with carbon, nitrogen and oxygen probes within the taxane-binding site of β-tubulin, and (ii) the prospective use of a structure-based QSAR (COMBINE) model derived from an earlier series comprising 47 congeneric taxanes. The tubulin-binding affinity displayed by one of the new compounds (CTX63) proved to be higher than that of docetaxel, and an updated COMBINE model provided a good correlation between the experimental binding free energies and a set of weighted residue-based ligandâreceptor interaction energies for 54 out of the 57 compounds studied. The remaining three outliers from the original training series have in common a large unfavourable entropic contribution to the binding free energy that we attribute to taxane preorganization in aqueous solution in a conformation different from that compatible with tubulin binding. Support for this proposal was obtained from solution NMR experiments and molecular dynamics simulations in explicit water. Our results shed additional light on the determinants of tubulin-binding affinity for this important class of antitumour agents and pave the way for further rational structural modifications.
我们合成了在
巴卡丁核心的 C2 和 C13 位置进行修饰的十种新型
紫杉醇,并通过实验测定了它们与哺乳动物微管蛋白的结合亲和力。设计策略的指导原则是:(i) 计算δ-微管蛋白的类
固醇结合位点内碳、氮和氧探针的相互作用能量图;(ii) 前瞻性地使用基于结构的 Q
SAR(COMBINE)模型,该模型来自早期由 47 种同源类
固醇组成的系列。事实证明,其中一种新化合物(CTX63)与微管蛋白的结合亲和力高于
多西他赛,更新后的 COMBINE 模型为所研究的 57 种化合物中的 54 种提供了实验结合自由能与一组基于加权残基的
配体与受体相互作用能之间的良好相关性。原始训练系列中的其余三个异常值的共同点是对结合自由能有很大的不利熵贡献,我们将其归因于
紫杉烷在
水溶液中的预组织构象不同于与管蛋白结合的构象。在显式
水溶液中进行的溶液核磁共振实验和分子动力学模拟为这一提议提供了支持。我们的研究结果进一步揭示了这一类重要
抗肿瘤药物与小管蛋白结合亲和力的决定因素,并为进一步合理调整结构铺平了道路。