Antitumor antibiotic fostriecin covalently binds to cysteine-269 residue of protein phosphatase 2A catalytic subunit in mammalian cells.

Fostriecin is a phosphate monoester with excellent antitumor activity against mouse leukemia, and it is a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatase (PP) 2A. This compound has been predicted to covalently bind to the Cys269 residue of the PP2A catalytic subunit (PP2Ac) at the alpha,beta-unsaturated lactone via a conjugate addition reaction. However, this binding has not yet been experimentally proven. To confirm such binding, we synthesized biotin-labeled fostriecin (bio-Fos), which has an inhibitory activity against the proliferation of mouse leukemia cells. We showed that fostriecin directly binds to PP2Ac in HeLa S3 cells by pull-down assays using bio-Fos. Moreover, we directly demonstrated that fostriecin covalently binds to the Cys269 residue of PP2Ac by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis. From these results, the inhibitory mechanism of fostriecin on PP2A activity is discussed.