We have developed a heterobifunctional all-small molecule PROTAC (PROteolysis TArgeting Chimera) capable of inducing proteasomal degradation of the androgen receptor. This cell-permeable PROTAC consists of a non-steroidal androgen receptor ligand (SARM) and the MDM2 ligand known as nutlin, connected by a PEG-based linker. The SARM-nutlin PROTAC recruits the androgen receptor to MDM2, which functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. This leads to the ubiquitination of the androgen receptor, and its subsequent degradation by the proteasome. Upon treatment of HeLa cells with 10 μM PROTAC for 7h, we were able to observe a decrease in androgen receptor levels. This degradation is proteasome dependent, as it is mitigated in cells pre-treated with 10 μM epoxomicin, a specific protease inhibitor. These results have implications for the potential study and treatment of various cancers with increased androgen receptor levels.

The ability to regulate any protein of interest in living systems with small molecules remains a challenge. We hypothesized that appending a hydrophobic moiety to the surface of a protein would mimic the partially denatured state of the protein, thus engaging the cellular quality control machinery to induce its proteasomal degradation. We designed and synthesized bifunctional small molecules that bind a bacterial dehalogenase (HaloTag protein) and present a hydrophobic group on its surface. Remarkably, hydrophobic tagging of the HaloTag protein with an adamantyl moiety induced the degradation of cytosolic, isoprenylated, and transmembrane fusion proteins in cell culture. We demonstrated the in vivo utility of hydrophobic tagging by degrading proteins expressed in zebrafish embryos and by inhibiting RasG12V-driven tumor progression in mice. Therefore, hydrophobic tagging of HaloTag fusion proteins affords small molecule control over any protein of interest, making it an ideal system for validating potential drug targets in disease models.

The efficient synthesis and biological evaluation of both the reported and revised structures of tyroscherin have been achieved. Central to our synthesis is a cross metathesis reaction that generated the trans-olefin regioselectively. This synthetic strategy enabled the facile manipulation of tyroscherin stereochemistry facilitating the generation of all 16 tyroscherin diastereomers and a photoactivatable tyroscherin-based affinity probe for future mode of action studies.

The development of new ligands for the oncoprotein Ras can provide tools for the study of this important signaling component or potentially serve as therapeutic agents for the treatment of Ras-associated diseases. Herein, we report a peptidic Ras ligand identified through naïve phage display. Panning a phage library with a diversity of 10(9) transormants successfully identified a peptide dodecamer that contains two internal consensus motifs and binds Ras in both the active GTP- and inactive GDP-bound conformations with low micromolar dissociation constants. The dodecamer does not alter the intrinsic GTPase activity of Ras, does not compete for Ras binding to the Ras binding domain of Raf, and does not alter cell viability. This novel Ras ligand has the potential to serve in the development of higher-affinity ligands and chemical tools targeting Ras.

Here we describe the concise syntheses of the 15 diastereomers and key analogs of the natural product tyroscherin. While systematic analysis of the analogs clearly demonstrated that the hydrocarbon tail is important for biological activity, structure-activity relationship studies of the complete tyroscherin diastereoarray revealed a surprisingly expansive stereochemical tolerance for the cytotoxic activity. Our results represent a departure from the tenet that biological activity is constrained to a narrow pharmacophore, and highlight the recently emerging appreciation for stereochemical flexibility in defining the essential structural elements of biologically active small molecules.