Application of Optical Biosensors in Small-Molecule Screening Activities

The last two decades have seen remarkable progress and improvements in optical biosensor systems such that those are currently seen as an important and value-adding component of modern drug screening activities. In particular the introduction of microplate-based biosensor systems holds the promise to match the required throughput without compromising on data quality thus representing a sought-after complement to traditional fluidic systems. This article aims to highlight the application of the two most prominent optical biosensor technologies, namely surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and optical waveguide grating (OWG), in small-molecule screening and will present, review and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different assay formats on these platforms. A particular focus will be on the specific advantages of the inhibition in solution assay (ISA) format in contrast to traditional direct binding assays (DBA). Furthermore we will discuss different application areas for both fluidic as well as plate-based biosensor systems by considering the individual strength of the platforms

Ligand binding mechanism in steroid receptors; from conserved plasticity to differential evolutionary constraints

Steroid receptor drugs have been available for more than half a century, but details 24 of the ligand binding mechanism has remained elusive. We solved X-ray structures of 25 the glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors to identify a conserved plasticity at 26 helix 6-7 region that extend the ligand binding pocket towards the receptor surface. 27 Since none of the endogenous ligands exploit this region, we hypothesized that it 28 constitutes an integral part of the binding event. Extensive all atom unbiased ligand 29 exit and entrance simulations corroborate a ligand binding pathway that gives the 30 observed structural plasticity a key functional role. Kinetic measurements reveal that 31 the receptor residence time correlate with structural rearrangements observed in both 32 structures and simulations. Ultimately, our findings reveal why nature has conserved 33 the capacity to open up this region and highlight how differences in the details of the 34 ligand entry process result in differential evolutionary constraints across the steroid 35 receptors.This study was supported by The European Research Council (2009-Adg25027-535 PELE) to V.G and by the SEV-2011-00067 grant of the Severo Ochoa Program. We 536 would like to acknowledge our AstraZeneca colleagues J. Hartleib, R.Unwin and 537 R.Knöll for helpful discussions. We also thank N. Blomberg (ELIXIR) and R. Neutze 538 (University of Gothenburg) for careful reading of the manuscript.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Ligand Binding Thermodynamics in Drug Discovery: Still a Hot Tip?

The use of ligand binding thermodynamics has been proposed as a potential success factor to accelerate drug discovery. However, despite the intuitive appeal of optimizing binding enthalpy, a number of factors complicate routine use of thermodynamic data. On a macroscopic level, a range of experimental parameters including temperature and buffer choice significantly influence the observed thermodynamic signatures. On a microscopic level, solute effects, structural flexibility, and cooperativity lead to nonlinear changes in enthalpy. This multifactorial character hides essential enthalpy contributions of intermolecular contacts, making them experimentally nonobservable. In this perspective, we present three case studies, reflect on some key factors affecting thermodynamic signatures, and investigate their relation to the hydrophobic effect, enthalpy–entropy compensation, lipophilic ligand efficiency, and promiscuity. The studies highlight that enthalpy and entropy cannot be used as direct end points but can together with calculations increase our understanding of ligand binding and identify interesting outliers that do not behave as expected

Hot-Spotting with Thermal Scanning: A Ligand- and Structure-Independent Assessment of Target Ligandability

Evaluating the ligandability of a protein target is a key component when defining hit-finding strategies or when prioritize among drug targets. Computational as well as biophysical approaches based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) fragment screening are powerful approaches but suffer from specific constraints that limit their usage. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of high-throughput thermal scanning (HTTS) as a simple and generic biophysical fragment screening method to reproduce assessments from NMR-based screening. By applying this method to a large set of proteins we can furthermore show that the assessment is predictive of the success of high-throughput screening (HTS). The few divergences for targets of low ligandability originate from the sensitivity differences of the orthogonal biophysical methods. We thus applied a new strategy making use of modulations in the solvent structure to improve assay sensitivity. This novel approach enables improved ligandability assessments in accordance with NMR-based assessments and more importantly positions the methodology as a valuable option for biophysical fragment screening

Proximity Biosensor Assay for PROTAC Ternary Complex Analysis

Ternary complexes, consisting of two proteins connected by small molecules like PROTACs or molecular glues pose new challenges for the analysis of molecular interactions, because they depend not only on binary affinities, but are orchestrated by cooperativity and avidity effects. Here, we introduce a proximity binding assay for the simultaneous measurement of binary and ternary interaction kinetics on a biosensor surface. Target proteins and ubiquitin E3 ligase substrate receptors are tethered to mobile swivel arms of a Y-shaped DNA scaffold, which presents them in close proximity to PROTAC analytes flown across the sensor. PROTAC-induced ternary complex formation is measured by fluorescence energy transfer (FRET), while binary interactions are detected by fluorescence quenching. The assay is applied to cereblon (CRBN) and von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) as E3 ligase substrate receptors, a range of compounds including AT1, MZ1, dBETs, and ARV-825 as PROTACs, and the two bromodomains of Brd2, Brd3, Brd4, and BrdT proteins as targets. Automated workflows enable the measurement of 384 real-time sensorgrams in a single run using picomo-lar sample quantities. Ternary and binary binding kinetics and proximity-mediated binding enhancements are analyzed. Ternary complex stability is shown to arise from a dynamic interplay of associations and dissociations, suggesting that proximity assays can be utilized to identify weak interactions. The insights into proximity-mediated binding kinetics can enable the development of PROTACs and molecular glues with improved properties for targeted protein degradation

Avidity-Based Affinity Enhancement Using Nanoliposome-Amplified SPR Sensing Enables Low Picomolar Detection of Biologically Active Neuregulin 1

Biomarkers serve as indicators of disease progression or therapeutic response of an medical intervention, and means for enabling a reliable and sensitive biomarker detection are therefore vital in clinical settings. Most biosensor assays require high-affinity interactions in combination with an enzyme or fluorescent tag to enable detection and frequently employ extensive washing procedures prior to signal readout. Attempts to overcome this limitation by using natural biological partners tend to be demanding, because their very low affinity is frequently not compatible with the need of reaching low limits of detection (LODs), especially for circulating biomarkers that possess short half-lives. To address these challenges, we developed a label-free surface plasmon resonance (SPR) platform for the detection of neuregulin 1 (NRG1) using ErbB4-modified liposomes offering both signal amplification and affinity enhancement via functional multivalent interactions. Through the functional avidity interaction between NRG1 and ErbB4, an LOD of 3.5 picomolar was reached, which is about 60-fold higher than traditional SPR and miniaturized immunoassays. The biosensor displays also an 8-fold higher sensitivity when compared with a single-molecule immunoassay employing the natural binding partner rather than a high-affinity antibody as one of the interaction partners. In fact, the liposome-induced avidity between NRG1 and ErbB4 offered an LOD that was comparable to that obtained using a high-affinity antibody and enabled detection of NRG1 in plasma with a LOD of 36 pM. Employing the liposome-enhanced platform in conjunction with a low-affinity biomarker receptor thus enables the assessment of the functional state of the biomarker at competitive LODs and eliminates the need for high-affinity antibodies

Mining Natural Products for Macrocycles to Drug Difficult Targets

Lead generation for difficult-to-drug targets that have large, featureless, and highly lipophilic or highly polar and/or flexible binding sites is highly challenging. Here, we describe how cores of macrocyclic natural products can serve as a high-quality in silico screening library that provides leads for difficult-to-drug targets. Two iterative rounds of docking of a carefully selected set of natural-product-derived cores led to the discovery of an uncharged macrocyclic inhibitor of the Keap1-Nrf2 protein- protein interaction, a particularly challenging target due to its highly polar binding site. The inhibitor displays cellular efficacy and is well-positioned for further optimization based on the structure of its complex with Keapl and synthetic access. We believe that our work will spur interest in using macrocyclic cores for in silico-based lead generation and also inspire the design of future macrocycle screening collections