Inducing Proximity: An Emerging Paradigm for New Therapeutic Modalities

制药业正处于危机之中;不幸的是，后基因组时代并没有发生重大变化 制药公司追求的蛋白质数量。这种缺乏新的癌症药物靶点导致了 太多的“我也是”毒品和浪费精力。为了满足这一需求，我的实验室专注于开发 新的领域“受控蛋白质沉积”我们最初的努力集中在抑制蛋白质周转;我们 开发了一种新的蛋白酶体抑制剂，YU 101，作为一种新的基于肿瘤学的 生物制药，Proteolix，Inc.从我的实验室最终，YU 101变成了carfilzalpine/Kyprolis®， 2012年被FDA批准用于复发性/难治性多发性骨髓瘤。最近，我的实验室 集中在蛋白质周转的另一面，即，开发siRNA的小分子类似物， 蛋白质敲除我们已经证明，这种称为蛋白水解靶向嵌合体的策略， （PROTAC）可以有效地将靶向癌蛋白募集到E3泛素连接酶以诱导降解， 无论是在细胞培养中还是在体内。在目前的R35的过去六年里，我与 另一家我创立的生物制药公司，Arvinas，Inc.，将这种方法应用于核激素受体， 肿瘤学Arvinas的两种基于PROTAC的候选药物（靶向AR和ER，用于前列腺和乳腺 癌症）已经在首次人体临床试验中显示减少它们的靶蛋白， 从而验证我们的PROTAC技术。在下一个R35阶段，我建议开发这项技术 进一步通过鉴定关键的可降解致癌驱动蛋白和通过开发 肿瘤选择性PROTAC。此外，PROTAC的临床验证支持开发 基于异双功能化合物的其它新的治疗方式， 细胞内机器这些创新的方法有潜力成为新药开发的 通过极大地扩展蛋白质种类， 药物靶向。最后，在过去的26年里，我一直专注于翻译我实验室的研究成果， 进入新的肿瘤学为重点的企业和FDA批准的药物，从而证明真正的'板凳， 这在当今学术界并不常见。这种创新和执行的记录 在转化癌症研究中，是未来持续成功的强有力的预测因素。

The pharmaceutical industry is in a crisis; unfortunately the post-genomic era has not significantly changed the number of proteins pursued by drug companies. This dearth of new cancer drug targets has resulted in too many ‘me too’ drugs and wasted effort. To address this need, my lab has focused on developing the new field of ‘Controlled Proteostasis’. Our initial efforts focused on inhibiting protein turnover; we developed a novel proteasome inhibitor, YU101, which served as the basis of a new oncology-based biopharma, Proteolix, Inc. from my lab. Ultimately, YU101 became carfilzomib/Kyprolis®, which was approved by the FDA in 2012 for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. More recently, my lab has been focused on the flipside of protein turnover, i.e., developing a small molecule analogy to siRNA to induce protein knockdown. We have shown that this strategy, known as Proteolysis Targeting Chimerae (PROTACs) can effectively recruit targeted oncoproteins to E3 ubiquitin ligases for induced degradation, both in cell culture and in vivo. Over the past six years of the current R35, I have worked closely with another biopharma that I founded, Arvinas, Inc., to apply this approach to nuclear hormone receptors in oncology. Arvinas’ two PROTAC-based drug candidates (targeting AR and ER, for prostate and breast cancers, respectively) have been shown to decrease their target proteins in first-in-human clinical trials, thus validating our PROTAC technology. In the next R35 phase, I propose to develop this technology further through the identification of key degradable oncogenic driver proteins and through the development of tumor-selective PROTACs. Moreover, the clinical validation of PROTACs supports the development of additional novel therapeutic modalities based on heterobifunctional compounds that co-opt various intracellular machineries. These innovative approaches have the potential to be new drug development paradigms that could have a significant impact by dramatically expanding the protein classes one can target pharmaceutically. Finally, for the past 26 years, I have focused on translating research from my lab into both new oncology-focused ventures and a FDA-approved drug, thus demonstrating truly ‘bench-to- bedside’ research that is not common in academia today. This track record of innovation and execution within translational cancer research are strong predictors of continued future success.