AbstractSmall‐molecule stabilization of protein‐protein interactions (PPIs) is a promising strategy in chemical biology and drug discovery. However, the systematic discovery of PPI stabilizers remains a largely unmet challenge. Herein we report a fragment‐linking approach targeting the interface of 14‐3‐3 and a peptide derived from the estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) protein. Two classes of fragments—a covalent and a noncovalent fragment—were co‐crystallized and subsequently linked, resulting in a noncovalent hybrid molecule in which the original fragment interactions were largely conserved. Supported by 20 crystal structures, this initial hybrid molecule was further optimized, resulting in selective, 25‐fold stabilization of the 14‐3‐3/ERα interaction. The high‐resolution structures of both the single fragments, their co‐crystal structures and those of the linked fragments document a feasible strategy to develop orthosteric PPI stabilizers by linking to an initial tethered fragment.
摘要稳定蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用(PPIs)的小分子是化学生物学和药物发现中一种前景广阔的策略。然而,系统性地发现 PPI 稳定剂在很大程度上仍是一个尚未解决的难题。在此,我们报告了一种针对 14-3-3 和来自雌激素受体α(ERα)蛋白的多肽界面的片段连接方法。我们对两类片段--共价片段和非共价片段--进行了共晶体化,随后将它们连接起来,形成了一种非共价混合分子,其中原始片段的相互作用在很大程度上保持不变。在 20 个晶体结构的支持下,对这一初始杂交分子进行了进一步优化,使 14-3-3/ERα 相互作用选择性地稳定了 25 倍。单个片段的高分辨率结构、它们的共晶体结构以及连接片段的高分辨率结构证明,通过与初始系链片段连接来开发正交 PPI 稳定剂是一种可行的策略。