10.1002/anie.201705516
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
COMMUNICATION
Beyond the BET family: targeting CBP/p300 with 4-acyl pyrroles
Martin Hügle, Xavier Lucas, Dmytro Ostrovskyi, Pierre Regenass, Stefan Gerhardt, Oliver Einsle,
Mirjam Hau, Manfred Jung, Bernhard Breit, Stefan Günther and Daniel Wohlwend*
Abstract: BET bromodomain inhibitors are widely used both as
chemical tools to study the biological role of their targets in living
organisms, and as candidates for drug development against several
cancer variants and human disorders. However, non-BET
bromodomains such as those in p300 and CBP are less studied. Here,
we introduce XDM-CBP, a highly potent and selective inhibitor for the
bromodomains of CBP and p300 derived from a pan-selective BET
BRD-binding fragment. In addition to X-ray crystal structure analysis
and thermodynamic profiling, we used XDM-CBP in in vitro cell
screenings of several cancer cell lines to study its inhibitory potential
on cancer cell proliferation. Our results demonstrate that XDM-CBP
is a potent and selective CBP/p300 inhibitor that acts on specific
cancer cell lines, in particular malignant melanoma, breast cancer,
and leukemia.
chemical probes.[1] Most studies and drug discovery campaigns,
however, focus on six members of the bromodomain and extra-
terminal domain (BET) family. Especially, BRD4 is a proven drug
target for fighting cancer, atherosclerosis, or diabetes.[2] Recently,
great efforts have been made to identify inhibitors for BDs beyond
the BET class.[2] In particular, the BD-containing cAMP response
element-binding protein binding protein (CBP, also CREBBP) was
shown to have a great potential for cancer treatment.[3] CBP and
the close homologue E1A binding protein p300 (p300) co-activate
transcription by bridging specific transcription factors with the
basal transcription machinery.[4] They are also involved in
chromatin relaxation through their histone acetyltransferase
activity.[4] Similarly, they can directly acetylate transcription
factors and thus modulate their activity. Finally, through their
multiple domains, both proteins recruit a variety of proteins of the
tumor immune response that moved them into the focus of
oncology research.[5]
Small molecules inhibiting bromodomains (BDs) represent not
only a novel approach to addressing specific malignancies driven
or controlled by the epigenetic machinery, but also a valuable tool
to study fundamental epigenetic mechanisms by means of
Within recent years four scaffolds could be identified that
inhibit the BDs of CBP and p300 with nanomolar binding affinity
(Supporting Table S1). In 2014, the first nanomolar CBP inhibitor
scaffold was published, showing weak selectivity against
BRD4(1) (KD,CBP = 390 nM, KD,
= 1.4 µM, determined by
BRD4
[a]
Dr. D. Wohlwend
Institut für Biochemie
isothermal titration calorimetry, ITC).[6] The chemical probe SGC-
CBP30 belongs to a second class of CBP inhibitors (KD = 21 nM,
ITC) and is highly selective, although significant affinity was also
observed to BRD4(1) (KD = 850 nM, ITC).[7] This scaffold was
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Albertstr. 21, D-79104 Freiburg (Germany)
Prof. Dr. S. Günther
Institut für Pharmazeutische Wissenschaften and Freiburg Institute
for Advanced Studies (FRIAS)
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Hermann-Herder-Str. 9, D-79104 Freiburg (Germany)
E-mail: stefan.guenther@pharmazie.uni-freiburg.de
M. Hügle,[+] Dr. S. Gerhardt
optimized by Pfizer to give PF-CBP1 (KD
= 190 nM, KD
>
,CBP
,BRD4
20 µM, ITC, >100-fold selectivity). PF-CBP1 downregulates a
number of inflammatory genes in macrophages as well as neuron
specific genes, suggesting a therapeutic opportunity for CBP
inhibitors in the treatment of neurological disorders.[8] I-CBP-112
[b]
belongs to the third CBP-inhibitor class (KD, CBP = 151 nM, KD
,BRD4
Institut für Biochemie
= 5.6 µM, ITC, 40-fold selectivity).[3] It notably reduces the
leukemia-initiating potential of AML cells in vitro and in vivo. Most
recently, Unzue and co-workers[9] presented a molecule with 33-
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Albertstr. 21, D-79104 Freiburg (Germany)
Dr. X. Lucas[+]
School of Life Sciences, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug
Discovery
fold selectivity (KD,CBP = 300 nM, ITC, KD
= 9.9 µM, by
,BRD4(1)
competition assay) that acts on leukemia cell lines.
University of Dundee, James Black Centre
Dow Street, Dundee, DD1 5EH (United Kingdom)
Prof. Dr. O. Einsle
Institut für Biochemie, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies
(FRIAS) and BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Albertstr. 21, D-79104 Freiburg (Germany)
Dr. D. Ostrovskyi,[+] Dr. P. Regenass
Institut für Organische Chemie
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Albertstr. 21, D-79104 Freiburg (Germany)
Prof. Dr. B. Breit
Institut für Organische Chemie and Freiburg Institute for Advanced
Studies (FRIAS)
In this study we examined the inhibitory potential of fragments
of our recently developed 4-acyl pyrrole based potent BET-
inhibitor XD14[10] on CBP/p300. The core fragment XD46 still
showed substantial affinity towards the BET family[11] but equally
addressed CBP and p300 (Figure 1, Supporting Figure S1).
Consequently, we set out to direct the selectivity of XD46
derivatives away from the BET family toward CBP/p300 using a
combination of computational methods, chemical syntheses, X-
ray crystallography, and ITC.
We initially grew XD46 inside the recognition site of p300 in
silico and identified XDM1 (Figure 1) with a m-chlorobenzyl
attached to the amide anchor of XD46 (Syntheses for all
compounds are given in the Supplementary Information). XDM1
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Albertstr. 21, D-79104 Freiburg (Germany)
M. Hau, Prof. Dr. M. Jung
Institut für Pharmazeutische Wissenschaften
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Albertstr. 25, D-79104 Freiburg (Germany)
[+]
These authors contributed equally to this work
Supporting information for this article is given via a link at the end of
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