368426-75-9Relevant articles and documents
Improving the Selectivity of PACE4 Inhibitors through Modifications of the P1 Residue
Dianati, Vahid,Navals, Pauline,Couture, Frédéric,Desjardins, Roxane,Dame, Anthony,Kwiatkowska, Anna,Day, Robert,Dory, Yves L.
, p. 11250 - 11260 (2018)
Paired basic amino acid cleaving enzyme 4 (PACE4), a serine endoprotease of the proprotein convertases family, has been recognized as a promising target for prostate cancer. We previously reported a selective and potent peptide-based inhibitor for PACE4, named the multi-Leu peptide (Ac-LLLLRVKR-NH2 sequence), which was then modified into a more potent and stable compound named C23 with the following structure: Ac-dLeu-LLLRVK-Amba (Amba: 4-amidinobenzylamide). Despite improvements in both in vitro and in vivo profiles of C23, its selectivity for PACE4 over furin was significantly reduced. We examined other Arg-mimetics instead of Amba to regain the lost selectivity. Our results indicated that the replacement of Amba with 5-(aminomethyl)picolinimidamide increased affinity for PACE4 and restored selectivity. Our results also provide a better insight on how structural differences between S1 pockets of PACE4 and furin could be employed in the rational design of selective inhibitors.
