ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters
Letter
particular interest from a therapeutic perspective because, on
the one hand, LIN28 is an oncogene that has been found to be
overexpressed in ∼15% of primary human tumors and LIN28
overexpression has been associated with poor clinical
prognosis.22 On the other hand, mature let-7 plays an
important role as a tumor-suppressing miRNA that down-
regulates MYC, RAS, and other oncogenes.16,23 Therefore,
disruption of the Lin28−let-7 interaction using small-molecule
inhibitors to enhance let-7 biogenesis and thus increase the
level of mature let-7 stands as a promising strategy to develop
anticancer therapeutics. Furthermore, the LIN28−let-7 inter-
action has been associated with the regulation of glucose
metabolism24 and other human disease.25
Small-molecule inhibitors targeting LIN28−let-7 interaction
were first reported in 2016,26−28 followed by a few recent
reports (Figure 1C).29−32 The most potent inhibitors showed
micromolar potency in in vitro assays, but suffered from low
potency in cellular evaluations. Very limited structure−activity
relationship (SAR) studies have been performed for even the
most extensively studied class. Therefore, the identification of
new classes of LIN28 inhibitors with scaffolds that are
amenable for further structural optimization will likely lead
to small molecules with improved inhibitory potency. Such
inhibitors will be highly desired as biological probes or as
potential candidates to develop anticancer therapeutics.
Herein, we performed the screening of a library containing
structure-diverse molecules utilizing a fluorescence polarization
(FP) assay to identify inhibitors disrupting the LIN28−let-7
interaction (Figure 2A). A pilot screening of 1400 compounds
FAM-labeled preE-let-7f-1 miRNA (GGGGUAGUGAUUUU-
ACCCUGUUUAGGAGAU-FAM) to identify inhibitors dis-
rupting the LIN28−let-7 interaction (Figure S1A). His-tagged
LIN28A (residues 16−187) was purified using immobilized
nickel affinity chromatography and the His-tag was cleaved by
recombinant TEV protease to remove the potential influence
induced by an artificial charge to LIN28A. In the FP assay,
both His-tagged and untagged LIN28A (residues 16−187)
were titrated into FAM-labeled preE-let-7f-1 and FP was
measured. Increased FP was observed for untagged LIN28A
bound to preE-let-7f-1 (Figure 2B) and His-tagged LIN28A
(Figure S1B). Unlabeled preE-let-7f-1 was used as a positive
control in the FP assay with a tested IC50 of 55 nM, which is
equivalent to the reported value (Figure 2C).29 Additionally,
we synthesized the previously reported inhibitor SB1301 in-
house and tested it in the FP assay (IC50: 27 μM, Figure
2D).27 In light of these results, the FP assay proved to be
sufficiently robust and sensitive to be used for screening of
small-molecule libraries for potential LIN28−let-7 inhibitors.
We performed FP-based screening of an in-house library
containing ∼15 000 natural product-inspired small molecules.
Initial screening was performed for a pilot collection of 1400
compounds in the FP assay. Single concentration measurement
at 30 μM was performed in triplicate. The unlabeled preE-let-
7f-1 miRNA was used as the positive control. FP and total
fluorescence intensity (FI) were recorded. The Z′-factors were
greater than 0.76, conveying high robustness and reliability of
the screening results. Compounds that showed at least 50% FP
inhibition but less than 300% FI of the control were grouped
for the following purity check with a threshold of 85% by LC-
MS. A following manual inspection led to an initial hit list of
six heterocyclic small molecules. To confirm the hits from pilot
screening, we tested the dose-dependent LIN28 inhibition in
the FP assay for the six compounds, among which C902
showed micromolar inhibitory activity (Figure 3A,B).
The pyrrolinone C902 was then resynthesized in-house as
PH-31 with improved purity based on a previously reported
synthetic route involving a three-component Doebner
condensation of an amine, an aldehyde, and a dioxobutanoate
component.33 After testing the IC50 of PH-31 in FP (Figure
3C), its LIN28−let-7 inhibitory activity was verified in an
EMSA, in which compounds that disrupt the formation of the
LIN28−let-7 complex can be identified with a readout
orthogonal to FP. PH-31 showed dose-dependent micromolar
inhibition of the LIN28−let-7 complex (Figures 3D and S2),
while in comparison the unlabeled preE−let-7f-1 completely
inhibited the formation of the protein−RNA complex at 500
nM. In contrast, an FP-inactive analogue C903 did not show
activity in the EMSA (Figure S3). Furthermore, PH-31 showed
concentration-dependent enhancement of the thermal stability
of the CSD of LIN28A in a differential scanning fluorimetry
human choriocarcinoma cell line JAR that endogenously
expresses LIN28A and LIN28B with PH-31 led to increased
levels of mature miRNAs let-7a and let-7g measured by RT-
qPCR (Figure 3E). It is worth noting that the observed
changes in cellular let-7 level may be attributed to the
polypharmacological nature of the trisubstituted pyrrolinones.
To further probe the inhibitory mechanism of the
pyrrolinone hit C902/PH-31, molecular docking was per-
formed using the reported structure of the LIN28−preE-let-7f-
1 complex.34 A scrutiny of the binding mode between preE-let-
7f-1 and LIN28 CSD did not reveal any deep pocket
Figure 2. FP assay. (A) Small-molecule inhibitors disrupting the
LIN28−let-7 interaction led to low FP signal. PF, polarization
emission filter. (B) FP assay of LIN28A (residues 16−187) titrated to
2 nM FAM-labeled preE-let-7f-1 miRNA, three replicates, error bars
indicate SD. LIN28A-bound preE-let-7f-1 led to increased FP (mP).
(C) Inhibition of the LIN28−let-7 interaction using unlabeled preE-
let-7f-1. (D) Inhibition of the LIN28−let-7 interaction using the
reported LIN28 inhibitor SB1301.
led to the discovery of a pyrrolinone hit C902 that showed low
micromolar inhibitory activity. A following electrophoretic
mobility shift assay (EMSA) verified the dose-dependent
inhibitory activity of the in-house resynthesized hit. Analysis of
hit derivatives and analogues revealed PRI inhibitory SAR
surrounding the pyrrolinone core scaffold and the association
with the protein−protein interaction activating potency of this
series of pyrrolinones.
We used a FP assay to measure the binding between a
truncated human LIN28A containing the CSD and ZKD and a
B
ACS Med. Chem. Lett. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX