Dataset Information

VCP/p97 inhibitor CB-5083 modulates muscle pathology in a mouse model of VCP inclusion body myopathy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pathogenic gain of function variants in Valosin-containing protein (VCP) cause a unique disease characterized by inclusion body myopathy with early-onset Paget disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia (also known as Multisystem proteinopathy (MSP)). Previous studies in drosophila models of VCP disease indicate treatment with VCP inhibitors mitigates disease pathology. Earlier-generation VCP inhibitors display off-target effects and relatively low therapeutic potency. New generation of VCP inhibitors needs to be evaluated in a mouse model of VCP disease. In this study, we tested the safety and efficacy of a novel and potent VCP inhibitor, CB-5083 using VCP patient-derived myoblast cells and an animal model of VCP disease.

Methods

First, we analyzed the effect of CB-5083 in patient-derived myoblasts on the typical disease autophagy and TDP-43 profile by Western blot. Next, we determined the maximum tolerated dosage of CB-5083 in mice and treated the 2-month-old VCP^R155H/R155H mice for 5 months with 15 mg/kg CB-5083. We analyzed motor function monthly by Rotarod; and we assessed the end-point blood toxicology, and the muscle and brain pathology, including autophagy and TDP-43 profile, using Western blot and immunohistochemistry. We also treated 12-month-old VCP^R155H/+ mice for 6 months and performed similar analysis. Finally, we assessed the potential side effects of CB-5083 on retinal function, using electroretinography in chronically treated VCP^R155H/155H mice.

Results

In vitro analyses using patient-derived myoblasts confirmed that CB-5083 can modulate expression of the proteins in the autophagy pathways. We found that chronic CB-5083 treatment is well tolerated in the homozygous mice harboring patient-specific VCP variant, R155H, and can ameliorate the muscle pathology characteristic of the disease. VCP-associated pathology biomarkers, such as elevated TDP-43 and p62 levels, were significantly reduced. Finally, to address the potential adverse effect of CB-5083 on visual function observed in a previous oncology clinical trial, we analyzed retinal function in mice treated with moderate doses of CB-5083 for 5 months and documented the absence of permanent ocular toxicity.

Conclusions

Altogether, these findings suggest that long-term use of CB-5083 by moderate doses is safe and can improve VCP disease-associated muscle pathology. Our results provide translationally relevant evidence that VCP inhibitors could be beneficial in the treatment of VCP disease.

SUBMITTER: Cheng C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8742393 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Small-molecule inhibitors of p97 are useful tools to study p97 function. Human p97 is an important AAA ATPase due to its diverse cellular functions and implication in mediating the turnover of proteins involved in tumorigenesis and virus infections. Multiple p97 inhibitors identified from previous high-throughput screening studies are thiol-reactive compounds targeting Cys522 in the D2 ATP-binding domain. Thus, these findings suggest a potential strategy to develop covalent p97 inhibitors. We first used purified p97 to assay several known covalent kinase inhibitors to determine if they can inhibit ATPase activity. We evaluated their selectivity using our dual reporter cells that can distinguish p97 dependent and independent degradation. We selected a β-nitrostyrene scaffold to further study the structure-activity relationship. In addition, we used p97 structures to design and synthesize analogues of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine (PP). We incorporated electrophiles into a PP-like compound 17 (4-amino-1-tert-butyl-3-phenyl pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine) to generate eight compounds. A selective compound 18 (N-(1-(tert-butyl)-3-phenyl-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4-yl)acrylamide, PPA) exhibited excellent selectivity in an in vitro ATPase activity assay: IC50 of 0.6 μM, 300 μM, and 100 μM for wild type p97, yeast Cdc48, and N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor (NSF), respectively. To further examine the importance of Cys522 on the active site pocket during PPA inhibition, C522A and C522T mutants of p97 were purified and shown to increase IC50 values by 100-fold, whereas replacement of Thr532 of yeast Cdc48 with Cysteine decreased the IC50 by 10-fold. The molecular modeling suggested the hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions in addition to the covalent bonding at Cys522 between WT-p97 and PPA. Furthermore, tandem mass spectrometry confirmed formation of a covalent bond between Cys522 and PPA. An anti-proliferation assay indicated that the proliferation of HCT116, HeLa, and RPMI8226 was inhibited by PPA with IC50 of 2.7 μM, 6.1 μM, and 3.4 μM, respectively. In addition, PPA is able to inhibit proliferation of two HCT116 cell lines that are resistant to CB-5083 and NMS-873, respectively. Proteomic analysis of PPA-treated HCT116 revealed Gene Ontology enrichment of known p97 functional pathways such as the protein ubiquitination and the ER to Golgi transport vesicle membrane. In conclusion, we have identified and characterized PPA as a selective covalent p97 inhibitor, which will allow future exploration to improve the potency of p97 inhibitors with different mechanisms of action.