AbstractPyruvate kinase (PK) is the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of phosphoenolpyruvate and adenosine diphosphate to pyruvate and adenosine triphosphate in glycolysis and plays a crucial role in regulating cell metabolism. We describe the structure‐based design of AG‐946, an activator of PK isoforms, including red blood cell‐specific forms of PK (PKR). This was designed to have a pseudo‐C2‐symmetry matching its allosteric binding site on the PK enzyme, which increased its potency toward PKR while reducing activity against off‐targets observed from the original scaffold. AG‐946 (1) demonstrated activation of human wild‐type PK (half‐maximal activation concentration [AC50]=0.005 μM) and a panel of mutated PK proteins (K410E [AC50=0.0043 μM] and R510Q [AC50=0.0069 μM]), (2) displayed a significantly longer half‐time of activation (>150‐fold) compared with 6‐(3‐methoxybenzyl)‐4‐methyl‐2‐(methylsulfinyl)‐4,6‐dihydro‐5H‐thieno[2′,3′:4,5]pyrrolo[2,3‐d]pyridazin‐5‐one, and (3) stabilized PKR R510Q, an unstable mutant PKR enzyme, and preserved its catalytic activity under increasingly denaturing conditions. As a potent, oral, small‐molecule allosteric activator of wild‐type and mutant PKR, AG‐946 was advanced to human clinical trials.
摘要丙酮酸激酶(PK)是催化糖酵解过程中磷酸烯醇丙酮酸和二磷酸腺苷转化为丙酮酸和三磷酸腺苷的酶,在调节细胞代谢中起着至关重要的作用。我们介绍了基于结构设计的 AG-946,这是一种 PK 同工酶激活剂,包括红细胞特异性 PK (PKR)。AG-946被设计成具有与其在PK酶上的异构结合位点相匹配的假C2对称性,这增加了它对PKR的效力,同时降低了从原始支架上观察到的对非靶点的活性。AG-946 (1) 对人类野生型 PK(半最大激活浓度 [AC50]=0.005 μM)和一组突变 PK 蛋白(K410E [AC50=0.0043 μM] 和 R510Q [AC50=0.0069 μM]),(2) 与 6-(3-甲氧基苄基)-4-甲基-2-(甲基亚磺酰基)-4,6-二氢-5H-噻吩并[2′,3′:4,5]吡咯并[2,3-d]哒嗪-5-酮,以及 (3) 稳定了 PKR R510Q(一种不稳定的 PKR 酶突变体),并在日益变性的条件下保持了其催化活性。作为野生型和突变型 PKR 的强效口服小分子异位激活剂,AG-946 已进入人体临床试验阶段。