Angewandte
Chemie
meric MALT1Casp-Ig3 was recorded with increasing amounts of
thioridazine (Figure 2b). The titration was continued until
saturation of quenching was observed.
both compounds reduced the viability of cells transduced with
MALT1 wildtype, while the HBL-1 cells transduced with the
E397A mutant were largely resistant to mepazine and
thioridazine (Figure 3). FACS histograms and western blot
show that MALT wildtype and E397A mutant proteins are
only expressed after addition of doxycycline (Figure 2a,b in
the Supporting Information).
To confirm that the titration of thioridazine has no effect
on the general folding of MALT1Casp-Ig3 under the applied
conditions, circular dichroism spectra were collected
(Figure 1 in the Supporting Information). The association
constants were calculated by plotting the percentage of W580
quenching versus the concentration of the compound and
fitting the curves to a one-site binding model. The equivalent
experiment was conducted using mepazine; similar results led
to the proposal that different phenothiazine derivatives
inhibit MALT1 by the same mechanism (Figure 2c). As
a negative control, the weak inhibitory phenothiazine-based
compound promethazine was used in the tryptophan-quench-
ing assay (Figure 2d); promethazine showed a significant
lower binding constant, consistent with the weak inhibitory
effect in vivo.[13]
The structure of inhibitor-bound MALT1 well explains
the effect of different phenothiazine modifications on their
inhibitory effectiveness as Nagel et al. had described. On the
one hand, the phenothiazine ring system has an optimal size
to fit in the hydrophobic pocket and only minor changes that
increase the size or enhance the solubility are tolerated. On
the other hand, the hydrogen bond between the N-methyl-
piperidine nitrogen of thioridazine and glutamic acid E397
seems to play a major role in MALT1 recognition (Figure 2a),
as the phenothiazine backbone alone is a very weak MALT1
inhibitor. All derivatives tested with a piperidyl ring system
and/or nitrogen in a similar position to the piperidyl nitrogen
showed an inhibitory effect in comparable range.[13] Modifi-
cations in the connecting alkyl chain, for example keto- or
hydroxy groups, increased the IC50 values up to tenfold.[13] We
concluded that the tricyclic ring system and the methylpiper-
idyl group play equally important roles in drug recognition.
To verify the influence of the E397–thioridazine interaction
and to further support the proposed binding mechanism for
phenothiazine derivatives, an E397A mutant of MALT1 was
tested with regard to its inhibition by different phenothiazine
derivatives in vitro and in vivo. To ensure correct folding of
the mutant protein, an in vitro enzymatic activity assay was
performed (Figure 2e). To define the inhibitory potential on
wild-type (wt) and mutant MALT1, IC50 values were deter-
mined for thioridazine, mepazine, and promethazine on GST-
MALT1325-760 wt and E397A (Figure 2 f–h). The two com-
pounds with a piperidyl ring system, thioridazine and
mepazine, display a lower inhibitory potential on the E397A
mutant than on the wt, whereas the mutation had no influence
on the weak inhibitory effect of promethazine. These results
are consistent with the tryptophan-quenching data and
emphasize the importance of the E397–inhibitor interaction
on the inhibitory potential of these phenothiazine derivatives
in vitro.
Figure 3. HBL-1 cells were lentivirally transduced with either MALT1
wildtype or the point mutant E397A. Subsequently, they were treated
with mepazine and thioridazine, and cell viability was monitored after
four days. The data demonstrate that mepazine and thioridazine
diminish cell viability of cells expressing MALT1 wt, while the E397A
mutant confers increased resistance to the compounds.
A detailed inspection of the electron density map of the
inhibitor suggests that solely the S enantiomer of thioridazine
is bound in the crystal structure (Figure 1c). However, we
cannot exclude that the R enantiomer is able to bind with
comparable affinity at this position. To analyze the influence
of chirality on the binding affinity and inhibitory potential of
the individual enantiomers, (R)- and (S)-mepazine and
thioridazine were prepared in enantiomerically pur form
pure as described in the Supporting Information and analyzed
accordingly. Whereas (R)- and (S)-thioridazine show equiv-
alent binding affinities and IC50 values (Figure 4a,c) (S)-
mepazine exhibits a significantly higher binding affinity and
an up to eight times higher inhibitory potential over (R)-
mepazine (Figure 4b,d). So far thioridazine has been applied
in the racemic form as the hydrochloride of 10-[2-(1-
methylpiperid-2-yl)ethyl]-2-methylthiophenothiazine for the
symptomatic therapy of psychotic disorders.[14] Nevertheless,
the antipsychotic effect is believed to be associated with (R)-
thioridazine.[15] Since (S)-thioridazine binds MALT1 with
a comparable affinity, it may be possible to reduce the
sedative effects by using the pure S enantiomer for treatment
of MALT1-driven cancer or autoimmune diseases. In any
case, the increased affinity of (S)-mepazine represents the
first step towards an MALT1-optimized phenothiazine-based
compound.
Since the 1950s thioridazine, mepazine, and other pheno-
thiazines have been used clinically as antipsychotic drugs,
where they exert their sedative effects by acting as dopamine
receptor antagonists in the brain.[14] Recently, thioridazine
was shown to induce toxicity in cancer stem cells (CSCs) while
having no effect on normal human pluripotent stem cells
(hPSCs). However, quite in contrast to the situation found in
MALT1-dependent ABC-DLBCL, CSCs express dopamine
receptors, and thioridazine affects CSC survival by acting as
To test the proposed inhibitor-binding mechanism in cells,
the human cell line HBL-1 derived from DLBCL patients was
transduced with wildtype or E397A mutant MALT1. After
doxycycline-induced MALT1 expression the cells were
exposed to either mepazine or thioridazine. Analysis of cell
viability by cell count four days after treatment revealed that
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 1 – 5
ꢀ 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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