Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide.At initial diagnosis,approximately 20%of patients are diagnosed with metastatic CRC(mCRC).Although the APC-Asef interaction is a well-est...Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide.At initial diagnosis,approximately 20%of patients are diagnosed with metastatic CRC(mCRC).Although the APC-Asef interaction is a well-established target for mCRC therapy,the discovery and development of effective and safe drugs for mCRC patients remains an urgent and challenging endeavor.In this study,we identified a novel structural scaffold based on MAI inhibitors,the first-in-class APC-Asef inhibitors we reported previously.ONIOM model-driven optimizations of the N-terminal cap and experimental evaluations of inhibitory activity were performed,and 24-fold greater potency was obtained with the best inhibitor compared to the parental compound.In addition,the cocrystal structure validated that the two-layerπ-πstacking interactions were essential for inhibitor stabilization in the bound state.Furthermore,in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that novel inhibitors suppressed lung metastasis in CRC by disrupting the APC-Asef interaction.These results provide an intrinsic structural basis to further explore drug-like molecules for APC-Asef-mediated CRC therapy.展开更多
基金funded by the National Key R&D Program of China(2023YFF1205103 to Jian Zhang)the Key Research and Construction Programs of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region(2022BEG01002 to Jian Zhang,China)+3 种基金the Starry Night Science Fund of Zhejiang University Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study(SN-ZJU-SIAS-007 to Jian Zhang,China)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(22237005 and 81925034 to Jian Zhang)the open fund of state key laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology,Nanjing University(KF-202201 to Jian Zhang,China)the open fund of Basic Science Research Center Base(Pharmaceutical Science Y202203 to Xiuyan Yang,China).
文摘Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide.At initial diagnosis,approximately 20%of patients are diagnosed with metastatic CRC(mCRC).Although the APC-Asef interaction is a well-established target for mCRC therapy,the discovery and development of effective and safe drugs for mCRC patients remains an urgent and challenging endeavor.In this study,we identified a novel structural scaffold based on MAI inhibitors,the first-in-class APC-Asef inhibitors we reported previously.ONIOM model-driven optimizations of the N-terminal cap and experimental evaluations of inhibitory activity were performed,and 24-fold greater potency was obtained with the best inhibitor compared to the parental compound.In addition,the cocrystal structure validated that the two-layerπ-πstacking interactions were essential for inhibitor stabilization in the bound state.Furthermore,in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that novel inhibitors suppressed lung metastasis in CRC by disrupting the APC-Asef interaction.These results provide an intrinsic structural basis to further explore drug-like molecules for APC-Asef-mediated CRC therapy.
