Rapid Quantification of Protein-Ligand Binding via 19F NMR Lineshape Analysis.
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ABSTRACT: Fluorine incorporation is ideally suited to many NMR techniques, and incorporation of fluorine into proteins and fragment libraries for drug discovery has become increasingly common. Here, we use one-dimensional 19F NMR lineshape analysis to quantify the kinetics and equilibrium thermodynamics for the binding of a fluorine-labeled Src homology 3 (SH3) protein domain to four proline-rich peptides. SH3 domains are one of the largest and most well-characterized families of protein recognition domains and have a multitude of functions in eukaryotic cell signaling. First, we showe that fluorine incorporation into SH3 causes only minor structural changes to both the free and bound states using amide proton temperature coefficients. We then compare the results from lineshape analysis of one-dimensional 19F spectra to those from two-dimensional 1H-15N heteronuclear single quantum coherence spectra. Their agreement demonstrates that one-dimensional 19F lineshape analysis is a robust, low-cost, and fast alternative to traditional heteronuclear single quantum coherence-based experiments. The data show that binding is diffusion limited and indicate that the transition state is highly similar to the free state. We also measured binding as a function of temperature. At equilibrium, binding is enthalpically driven and arises from a highly positive activation enthalpy for association with small entropic contributions. Our results agree with those from studies using different techniques, providing additional evidence for the utility of 19F NMR lineshape analysis, and we anticipate that this analysis will be an effective tool for rapidly characterizing the energetics of protein interactions.
Project description:The development of more effective drugs requires knowledge of their bioavailability and binding efficacy directly in the native cellular environment. In-cell nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for investigating ligand-target interactions directly in living cells. However, the target molecule may be NMR-invisible due to interactions with cellular components, while observing the ligand by 1H NMR is impractical due to the cellular background. Such limitations can be overcome by observing fluorinated ligands by 19F in-cell NMR as they bind to the intracellular target. Here we report a novel approach based on real-time in-cell 19F NMR that allows measuring ligand binding affinities in human cells by competition binding, using a fluorinated compound as a reference. The binding of a set of compounds toward Hsp90α was investigated. In principle, this approach could be applied to other pharmacologically relevant targets, thus aiding the design of more effective compounds in the early stages of drug development.
Project description:A new 19F NMR method is presented which can be used to detect weak protein binding of small molecules with up to mM affinity. The method capitalizes on the synthetic availability of unique SF5 containing compounds and the generation of five-quantum coherences (5QC). Given the high sensitivity of 5QC relaxation to exchange events (i.e. reversible protein binding) fragments which bind to the target with weak affinity can be identified. The utility of the method in early stage drug discovery programs is demonstrated with applications to two model proteins, the neurotoxic NGAL and the prominent tumor target β-catenin.
Project description:19F NMR has emerged as a powerful tool in drug discovery, particularly in fragment-based screens. The favorable magnetic resonance properties of the fluorine-19 nucleus, the general absence of fluorine in biological settings, and its ready incorporation into both small molecules and biopolymers, has enabled multiple applications of 19F NMR using labeled small molecules and proteins in biophysical, biochemical, and cellular experiments. This review will cover developments in ligand-observed and protein-observed 19F NMR experiments tailored towards drug discovery with a focus on fragment screening. We also cover the key advances that have furthered the field in recent years, including quantitative, structural, and in-cell methodologies. Several case studies are described for each application to highlight areas for innovation and to further catalyze new NMR developments for using this versatile nucleus.
Project description:NMR titration experiments are a rich source of structural, mechanistic, thermodynamic and kinetic information on biomolecular interactions, which can be extracted through the quantitative analysis of resonance lineshapes. However, applications of such analyses are frequently limited by peak overlap inherent to complex biomolecular systems. Moreover, systematic errors may arise due to the analysis of two-dimensional data using theoretical frameworks developed for one-dimensional experiments. Here we introduce a more accurate and convenient method for the analysis of such data, based on the direct quantum mechanical simulation and fitting of entire two-dimensional experiments, which we implement in a new software tool, TITAN (TITration ANalysis). We expect the approach, which we demonstrate for a variety of protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, to be particularly useful in providing information on multi-step or multi-component interactions.
Project description:To evaluate its potential as a ligand discovery tool, we compare a newly developed 1D protein-observed fluorine NMR (PrOF NMR) screening method with the well-characterized ligand-observed 1H CPMG NMR screen. We selected the first bromodomain of Brd4 as a model system to benchmark PrOF NMR because of the high ligandability of Brd4 and the need for small molecule inhibitors of related epigenetic regulatory proteins. We compare the two methods' hit sensitivity, triaging ability, experiment speed, material consumption, and the potential for false positives and negatives. To this end, we screened 930 fragment molecules against Brd4 in mixtures of five and followed up these studies with mixture deconvolution and affinity characterization of the top hits. In selected examples, we also compare the environmental responsiveness of the 19F chemical shift to 1H in 1D-protein observed 1H NMR experiments. To address concerns of perturbations from fluorine incorporation, ligand binding trends and affinities were verified via thermal shift assays and isothermal titration calorimetry. We conclude that for the protein understudy here, PrOF NMR and 1H CPMG have similar sensitivity, with both being effective tools for ligand discovery. In cases where an unlabeled protein can be used, 1D protein-observed 1H NMR may also be effective; however, the 19F chemical shift remains significantly more responsive.
Project description:The binding affinity determination of protein-ligand complexes is a cornerstone of drug design. State-of-the-art techniques are limited by lengthy and expensive processes. Building upon our recently introduced novel screening method utilizing photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP) NMR, we provide the methodological framework to determine binding affinities within 5-15 min using 0.1 mg of protein. The accuracy of our method is demonstrated for the affinity constants of peptides binding to a PDZ domain and fragment ligands binding to the protein PIN1. The method can also be extended to measure the affinity of nonphoto-CIDNP-polarizable ligands in competition binding experiments. Finally, we demonstrate a strong correlation between the ligand-reduced signals in photo-CIDNP-based NMR fragment screening and the well-established saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR. Thus, our methodology measures protein-ligand affinities in the micro- to millimolar range in only a few minutes and informs on the binding epitope in a single-scan experiment, opening new avenues for early stage drug discovery approaches.
Project description:Curriculum-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been shown to increase student retention in STEM fields and are starting to become more widely adopted in chemistry curricula. Here we describe a 10-week CURE that is suitable for a second-semester organic chemistry laboratory course. Students synthesize small molecules and use protein-observed 19F (PrOF) NMR to assess the small molecule's binding affinity to a target protein. The research project introduced students to multistep organic synthesis, structure-activity relationship studies, quantitative biophysical measurements (measuring Kd from PrOF NMR experiments), and scientific literacy. Docking experiments could be added to help students understand how changes in a ligand structure may affect binding to a protein. Assessment using the CURE survey indicates self-perceived skill gains from the course that exceed gains measured in a traditional and an inquiry-based laboratory experience. Given the speed of the binding experiment and the alignment of the synthetic methods with a second-semester organic chemistry laboratory course, a PrOF NMR fragment-based ligand discovery lab can be readily implemented in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum.
Project description:Inhibitor discovery for protein-protein interactions has proven difficult due to the large protein surface areas and dynamic interfaces involved. This is particularly the case when targeting transcription-factor-protein interactions. To address this challenge, structural biology approaches for ligand discovery using X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy have had a significant impact on advancing small molecule inhibitors into the clinic, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved drug, Venetoclax. Inspired by the protein-observed NMR approach using 1H-15N-HSQC NMR which detects chemical shift perturbations of 15N-labeled amides, we have applied a complementary protein-observed 19F NMR approach using 19F-labeled side-chains that are enriched at protein-protein-interaction interfaces. This protein-observed 19F NMR assay is abbreviated PrOF NMR to distinguish the experiment from the more commonly employed ligand-observed 19F NMR methods. In this Account, we describe our efforts using PrOF NMR as a ligand discovery tool, particularly for fragment-based ligand discovery (FBLD). We metabolically label the aromatic amino acids on proteins due to the enrichment of aromatic residues at protein interfaces. We choose the 19F nucleus due to its high signal sensitivity and the hyperresponsiveness of 19F to changes in chemical environment. Simultaneous labeling with two different types of fluorinated aromatic amino acids for PrOF NMR has also been achieved. We first describe the technical aspects of considering the application of PrOF NMR for characterizing native protein-protein interactions and for ligand screening. Several test cases are further described with a focus on a transcription factor coactivator interaction with the KIX domain of CBP/p300 and two epigenetic regulatory domains, the bromodomains of BRD4 and BPTF. Through these case studies, we highlight medicinal chemistry applications in FBLD, selectivity screens, structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, and ligand deconstruction approaches. These studies have led to the discovery of some of the first inhibitors for BPTF and a novel inhibitor class for the N-terminal bromodomain of BRD4. The speed, ease of interpretation, and relatively low concentration of protein needed for NMR-based binding experiments affords a rapid, structural biology-based method to discover and characterize both native and new ligands for bromodomains, and it may find utility in the study of additional epigenetic proteins and transcription-factor-protein interactions.
Project description:Mechanistic insight into protein binding by poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) is critical to understanding how PFASs distribute and accumulate within the body and to developing predictive models within and across classes of PFASs. Fluorine nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (19F NMR) has proven to be a powerful, yet underutilized tool to study PFAS binding; chemical shifts of each fluorine group reflect the local environment along the length of the PFAS molecule. Using bovine serum albumin (BSA), we report dissociation constants, Kd, for four common PFASs well below reported critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) - perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) - as a function of temperature in phosphate buffered saline. Kd values were determined based on the difluoroethyl group adjacent to the anionic headgroups and the terminal trifluoromethyl groups. Our results indicate that the hydrophobic tails exhibit greater binding affinity relative to the headgroup, and that the binding affinities are generally consistent with previous results showing that greater PFAS hydrophobicity leads to greater protein binding. However, the binding mechanism was dominated by entropic hydrophobic interactions attributed to desolvation of the PFAS tails within the hydrophobic cavities of the protein and on the surface of the protein. In addition, PFNA appears to form hemimicelles on the protein surfaces below reported CMC values. This work provides a renewed approach to utilizing 19F NMR for PFAS-protein binding studies and a new perspective on the role of solvent entropy.