| Literature DB >> 33655614 |
Julian Breidenbach1, Carina Lemke1, Thanigaimalai Pillaiyar1,2, Laura Schäkel1, Ghazl Al Hamwi1, Miriam Diett1, Robin Gedschold1, Nina Geiger3, Vittoria Lopez1, Salahuddin Mirza1, Vigneshwaran Namasivayam1, Anke C Schiedel1, Katharina Sylvester1, Dominik Thimm1, Christin Vielmuth1, Lan Phuong Vu1, Maria Zyulina1, Jochen Bodem3, Michael Gütschow1, Christa E Müller1.
Abstract
The main protease of SARS-CoV-2 (Mpro ), the causative agent of COVID-19, constitutes a significant drug target. A new fluorogenic substrate was kinetically compared to an internally quenched fluorescent peptide and shown to be ideally suitable for high throughput screening with recombinantly expressed Mpro . Two classes of protease inhibitors, azanitriles and pyridyl esters, were identified, optimized and subjected to in-depth biochemical characterization. Tailored peptides equipped with the unique azanitrile warhead exhibited concomitant inhibition of Mpro and cathepsin L, a protease relevant for viral cell entry. Pyridyl indole esters were analyzed by a positional scanning. Our focused approach towards Mpro inhibitors proved to be superior to virtual screening. With two irreversible inhibitors, azanitrile 8 (kinac /Ki =37 500 m-1 s-1 , Ki =24.0 nm) and pyridyl ester 17 (kinac /Ki =29 100 m-1 s-1 , Ki =10.0 nm), promising drug candidates for further development have been discovered.Entities:
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 main protease; azapeptide nitriles; fluorogenic substrates; high throughput screening; pyridinyl 1H-indole-carboxylates
Mesh:
Substances:
Year: 2021 PMID: 33655614 PMCID: PMC8014119 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202016961
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Angew Chem Int Ed Engl ISSN: 1433-7851 Impact factor: 16.823
Figure 1Conversion of fluorogenic substrates by His‐tagged SARS‐CoV‐2 main protease (Mpro), lysate obtained from human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, HEK cell lysate spiked with Mpro, human cathepsin L (cat L), human cathepsin B (cat B), bovine trypsin, and in the absence of enzymes (FU, fluorescence units). The product formation was monitored for 10 min at 37 °C with an initial substrate concentration of 50 μm in all cases. Each enzyme was used at the same concentration in all respective experiments.
Focused libraries for small‐molecule Mpro inhibitors[a]
|
library |
[μ |
number of test compds |
number of hits[c] |
|---|---|---|---|
|
in‐house chloroalkyl derivatives |
50 |
29 |
7 |
|
in‐house Michael acceptors |
50 |
69 |
5 |
|
in‐house glutamine analogs |
50 |
33 |
0 |
|
in‐house carbonitriles |
50 |
186 |
17 |
|
natural product library |
10 |
143 |
2 |
|
Pathogen Box |
50 |
400 |
2 |
|
in‐house indoles |
10 |
78 |
0 |
|
virtually generated library |
10 |
140 |
1 |
[a] Residual activity of Mpro was measured with 50 μm Boc‐Abu‐Tle‐Leu‐Gln‐AMC in 50 mm 3‐(N‐morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS) buffer, pH 7.2, 4 % DMSO at 37 °C. Reactions were monitored (λ ex=360 nm, λ em=460 nm) for 10 min and the progress curves were analyzed by linear regression. [b] Test concentration depended on compound solubilities and expected potencies. [c] Compounds which showed >50 % inhibition at the indicated concentration in duplicate measurements were considered as hits.
Figure 2Selected, confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2 Mpro inhibitors identified by HTS. Compounds 1 and 2 were identified in the library of in‐house chloroalkyl derivatives (entry 1 in Table 1), compound 9 in the Pathogen Box library (entry 6 in Table 1), and compound 10 in the virtually generated library (entry 8 in Table 1).
Scheme 1Synthesis of the azapeptide nitriles 3–8.
Figure 3Mpro‐catalyzed hydrolysis of 50 μm (=1.03×K m) of Boc‐Abu‐Tle‐Leu‐Gln‐AMC in the absence (black) or presence of increasing concentrations of inhibitor 4 (from top to bottom: 0.6 μm, 1.2 μm, 1.8 μm, 2.4 μm, 3.0 μm). Inset: A plot of first‐order rate constants versus the inhibitor concentrations and non‐linear regression gave a k inac/K i value of 1150 m −1 s−1.
Mpro inhibition by azapeptide nitriles with aza‐glutamine in P1 position[a]
|
compd |
P4 |
P3 |
P2 |
[ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
– |
– |
Cbz‐Leu |
489 |
|
|
– |
– |
Cbz‐Phe |
1150 |
|
|
– |
Cbz‐Tle |
Leu |
2060 |
|
|
– |
Cbz‐Tle |
Phe |
36 000 |
|
|
Cbz‐Abu |
Tle |
Leu |
21 400 |
|
|
Cbz‐Abu |
Tle |
Phe |
37 500 |
[a] Progress curves in the presence of five different inhibitor concentrations and 50 μm Boc‐Abu‐Tle‐Leu‐Gln‐AMC in 50 mm MOPS buffer, pH 7.2, 4 % DMSO at 37 °C were monitored for 60 min and analyzed by non‐linear regression using the equation [P]=v i×(1−exp(−k obs×t)/k obs+d. Values k inac/K i were determined by non‐linear regression using the equation k obs=(k inac×[I])/([I]+K i×(1+[S]/K m)). Deviation of each data point from the calculated non‐linear regression was less than 10 %.
Figure 4Predicted binding pose of the azapeptide nitrile 8 (orange) in the active site of SARS‐CoV‐2 Mpro with relevant amino acids (green). The model was obtained based on a reported enzyme–inhibitor complex (PDB ID: 6LU7). The covalent bond between the sulfur of the active site Cys145 and the cyano carbon of the warhead generated an isothiosemicarbazide‐type enzyme‐inhibitor adduct. The P1 glutamine side chain resides in the S1 pocket. The aromatic ring of the P2 phenylalanine is positioned in the hydrophobic S2 pocket (His41, Met49, Met165) in proximity to the Gln189 side chain. The P3 tert‐leucine is oriented towards the solvent. The P4 aminobutyric acid and the N‐terminal, Cbz‐capped part of the inhibitor are oriented towards the S3/S4 region. Hydrogen bond interactions are shown in yellow dotted lines, for details see Figure S15. The binding mode of 8 is consonant with X‐ray crystal structures of other peptidic inhibitors in complex with Mpro.[ , , ]
Mpro inhibition by 5‐halopyridin‐3‐yl 1H‐indole‐carboxylates[a,b]
|
compd |
X |
R2 |
R3 |
R4 |
R5 |
R6 |
R7 |
Y |
[ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
NH |
R |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Cl |
7600 |
|
|
NH |
H |
R |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Cl |
6090 |
|
|
NH |
H |
H |
R |
H |
H |
H |
Cl |
14 800 |
|
|
NH |
H |
H |
H |
R |
H |
H |
Cl |
3200 |
|
|
NH |
H |
H |
H |
H |
R |
H |
Cl |
4400 |
|
|
NH |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
R |
Cl |
20 200 |
|
|
NH |
R |
H |
H |
Cl |
H |
H |
Cl |
29 100 |
|
|
NH |
H |
H |
R |
H |
H |
H |
Br |
24 000 |
|
|
NH |
‐(CH2)4‐ |
H |
R |
H |
H |
Cl |
5620 | |
|
|
O |
R |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
Cl |
n.d.[c] |
[a] Syntheses are described in Supporting Information. [b] For kinetic analysis, see Table 2. [c] n.d.: not determined. IC50=5.41 nm.