Covalent Protein Binders for Cancer Research and Therapy

蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用涉及广泛的细胞功能和信号传递。各种蛋白质结合剂 已经被开发来检测或调节这种相互作用以用于研究、诊断和治疗 申请。然而，现有的蛋白质结合剂通常仅以非共价模式与其靶标结合， 对亲和力、稳定性和完整性的限制。此外，药物与其靶标之间的共价键 与传统药物的非共价相互作用相比，提供了多种理想的治疗特性。是这样的 近年来，共价模式在小分子药物中的应用取得了很大的成功，但 共价蛋白质药物的治疗潜力在很大程度上仍未开发。为了改变这种模式，这个项目 将开发共价蛋白质结合剂并生产共价蛋白质药物。新的潜在生物活性氨基酸 将被设计并通过基因结合到蛋白质结合剂中，它将与天然残留物发生反应 仅靶向于蛋白质结合，选择性地在两种蛋白质之间建立稳定的共价键。 与癌症相关的免疫检查点和膜受体的共价蛋白结合蛋白将 将被生成。这些共价蛋白结合剂对癌细胞信号和功能的不同影响将是 在体外进行评估，并将评估它们作为共价蛋白药物的细胞毒活性和抗肿瘤效果。 在异种移植小鼠模型中。该项目的成功将为细胞研究开辟一个新的领域 通过高度选择性、稳定和共价调节蛋白质的信号和功能。一个通用的平台 将建立开发共价蛋白质药物的技术，导致新一代 具有根本不同的癌症治疗结合机制的生物疗法。

Protein-protein interactions are involved in a broad range of cell function and signaling. Various protein binders have been developed to detect or modulate such interactions for research, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications. However, existing protein binders usually bind to their targets in noncovalent mode only, imposing limitations on affinity, stability, and completeness. In addition, covalent bonding between a drug and its target offers multiple desirable therapeutic properties over noncovalent interactions of conventional drugs. Such covalent mode has been implemented in small molecule drugs with great success in recent years, yet the therapeutic potential of covalent protein drugs remains largely untapped. To change this paradigm, this project will develop covalent protein binders and generate covalent protein drugs. New latent bioreactive amino acids will be designed and genetically incorporated into protein binders, which will react with a natural residue of the target only upon protein binding, selectively creating a stable covalent linkage between the two proteins. Covalent protein binders specific for immune-checkpoints and membrane receptors associated with cancer will be generated. The distinct effects of these covalent protein binders on cancer cell signaling and function will be assessed in vitro, and their cytotoxic activity and anti-tumor efficacy as covalent protein drugs will be evaluated in xenografted mouse models. The success of this project will instigate a new dimension for researching cell signaling and function through highly selective, stable, and covalent modulation of proteins. A general platform technology will be established for the development of covalent protein drugs, leading to a new generation of biotherapeutics with a fundamentally different binding mechanism for cancer treatment.