作者:Michael D. Wendt、Chaohong Sun、Aaron Kunzer、Daryl Sauer、Kathy Sarris、Ethan Hoff、Liping Yu、David G. Nettesheim、Jun Chen、Sha Jin、Kenneth M. Comess、Yihong Fan、Steven N. Anderson、Binumol Isaac、Edward T. Olejniczak、Philip J. Hajduk、Saul H. Rosenberg、Steven W. Elmore
DOI:10.1016/j.bmcl.2007.03.042
日期:2007.6
Survivin is one of the most tumor-specific genes in the human genome and is an attractive target for cancer therapy. However, small-molecule ligands for survivin have not yet been described. Thus, an interrogation of survivin which could potentially both validate a small-molecule therapy approach, and determine the biochemical nature of any of survivin's functions has not been possible. Here we describe the discovery and characterization of a small molecule binding site on the survivin surface distinct from the Smac peptide-binding site. The new site is located at the dimer interface and exhibits many of the features of highly druggable, biologically relevant protein binding sites. A variety of small hydrophobic compounds were found that bind with moderate affinity to this binding site, from which one lead was developed into a group of compounds with nanomolar affinity. Additionally, a subset of these compounds are adequately water-soluble and cell-permeable. Thus, the structural studies and small molecules described here provide tools that can be used to probe the biochemical role(s) of survivin, and may ultimately serve as a basis for the development of small molecule therapeutics acting via direct or allosteric disruption of binding events related to this poorly understood target. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.