We report here a peptide-driven approach to create first inhibitors of the chromobox homolog 7 (CBX7), a methyllysine reader protein. CBX7 uses its chromodomain to bind histone 3, lysine 27 trimethylated (H3K27me3), and this recognition event is implicated in silencing multiple tumor suppressors. Small trimethyllysine containing peptides were used as the basic scaffold from which potent ligands for disruption of CBX7-H3K27me3 complex were developed. Potency of ligands was determined by fluorescence polarization and/or isothermal titration calorimetry. Binding of one ligand was characterized in detail using 2D NMR and X-ray crystallography, revealing a structural motif unique among human CBX proteins. Inhibitors with a ∼200 nM potency for CBX7 binding and 10-fold/400-fold selectivity over related CBX8/CBX1 proteins were identified. These are the first reported inhibitors of any chromodomain.

The polycomb paralogs CBX2, CBX4, CBX6, CBX7, and CBX8 are epigenetic readers that rely on "aromatic cage" motifs to engage their partners' methyllysine side chains. Each CBX carries out distinct functions, yet each includes a highly similar methyllysine-reading chromodomain as a key element. CBX7 is the only chromodomain that has yet been targeted by chemical inhibition. We report a small set of peptidomimetic agents in which a simple chemical modification switches the ligands from one with promiscuity across all polycomb paralogs to one that provides selective inhibition of CBX6. The structural basis for this selectivity, which involves occupancy of a small hydrophobic pocket adjacent to the aromatic cage, was confirmed through molecular dynamics simulations. Our results demonstrate the increases in affinity and selectivity generated by ligands that engage extended regions of chromodomain binding surfaces.

Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) is critical for mediating gene expression during development. Five chromobox (CBX) homolog proteins, CBX2, CBX4, CBX6, CBX7, and CBX8, are incorporated into PRC1 complexes, where they mediate targeting to trimethylated lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me3) via the N-terminal chromodomain (ChD). Individual CBX paralogs have been implicated as drug targets in cancer; however, high similarities in sequence and structure among the CBX ChDs provide a major obstacle in developing selective CBX ChD inhibitors. Here we report the selection of small, focused, DNA-encoded libraries (DELs) against multiple homologous ChDs to identify modifications to a parental ligand that confer both selectivity and potency for the ChD of CBX8. This on-DNA, medicinal chemistry approach enabled the development of SW2_110A, a selective, cell-permeable inhibitor of the CBX8 ChD. SW2_110A binds CBX8 ChD with a K d of 800 nM, with minimal 5-fold selectivity for CBX8 ChD over all other CBX paralogs in vitro. SW2_110A specifically inhibits the association of CBX8 with chromatin in cells and inhibits the proliferation of THP1 leukemia cells driven by the MLL-AF9 translocation. In THP1 cells, SW2_110A treatment results in a significant decrease in the expression of MLL-AF9 target genes, including HOXA9, validating the previously established role for CBX8 in MLL-AF9 transcriptional activation, and defining the ChD as necessary for this function. The success of SW2_110A provides great promise for the development of highly selective and cell-permeable probes for the full CBX family. In addition, the approach taken provides a proof-of-principle demonstration of how DELs can be used iteratively for optimization of both ligand potency and selectivity.

The identification of protein ligands from a DNA-encoded library is commonly conducted by an affinity selection assay. These assays are often not validated for robustness, raising questions about selections that fail to identify ligands and the utility of enrichment values for ranking ligand potencies. Here, we report a method for optimizing and utilizing affinity selection assays to identify potent and selective peptidic ligands to the highly related chromodomains of CBX proteins. To optimize affinity selection parameters, statistical analyses (Z′ factors) were used to define the ability of selection assay conditions to identify and differentiate ligands of varying affinity. A DNA-encoded positional scanning library of peptidomimetics was constructed around a trimethyllysine-containing parent peptide, and parallel selections against the chromodomains from CBX8 and CBX7 were conducted over three protein concentrations. Relative potencies of off-DNA hit molecules were determined through a fluorescence polarization assay and were consistent with enrichments observed by DNA sequencing of the affinity selection assays. In addition, novel peptide-based ligands were discovered with increased potency and selectivity to the chromodomain of CBX8. The results indicate low DNA tag bias and show that affinity-based in vitro selection assays are sufficiently robust for both ligand discovery and determination of quantitative structure–activity relationships.

The five human polycomb (Pc) paralog proteins, chromobox homolog (Cbx) 2/4/6/7/8, are a family of chromodomain containing methyllysine reader proteins that are canonical readers of trimethyllysine 27 on histone 3 (H3K27me3). The aberrant expression of the Cbx7 gene is implicated in several cancers including prostate, gastric, thyroid, pancreas, and colon cancer. Previous reports on antagonizing the molecular recognition of Cbx7–H3K27me3 with chemical inhibitors showed an impact on prostate cancer cell lines. We report here on the design, synthesis, and structure–activity relationships of a series of potent peptidomimetic antagonists that were optimized on a trimethyllysine-containing scaffold to target Cbx7. The ligands were characterized using fluorescence polarization (FP) for their binding efficiency and selectivity against the Pc paralog Cbx proteins. The most selective ligand 9, as indicated by the FP data analysis, was further characterized using the isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Compound 9 exhibits a 220 nM potency for Cbx7 and exhibits 3.3, 1.8, 7.3 times selective for Cbx7 over Cbx2/4/8 and 28-fold selective over the HP1 family member Cbx1. Our research provides several potent and partially selective inhibitors for Cbx2/4/7 that do not contain trimethyllysine. Our models and binding data suggest that the aromatic cages of Cbx7/Cbx4 can accommodate larger alkyl groups such as diisobutyl substitution on the lysine nitrogen.

The programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) signaling axis is among the most important therapeutic targets in modern oncology. Aurigene Discovery Technologies Ltd. (Aurigene) has patented a series of peptidomimetic small molecules derived from the PD-1 protein sequence for use in targeting the interaction between PD-1 and its ligand, PD-L1. We evaluated three of Aurigene's most potent compounds in SPR binding assays. Our results showed that these compounds each of which is known to be potently effective in a splenocyte recovery assaydo not directly inhibit the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction nor do they appear to bind to either of the constituent proteins, indicating that another mechanism is at play. As a result of these studies and upon consideration of structural features within the PD-1/PD-L1 complex, we hypothesize that the Aurigene molecules may interact with a currently unknown protein capable of regulating the PD-1 axis.

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An aza-amino acid scan of peptide inhibitors of the chromobox homolog 7 (CBX7) was performed to study the conformational requirements for affinity to the methyllysine reader protein. Twelve azapeptide analogues were prepared using three different approaches employing respectively N-(Fmoc)aza-amino acid chlorides and submonomer azapeptide synthesis to install systematically aza-residues at the first four residues of the peptide, as well as to provide aza-lysine residues possessing saturated and unsaturated side chains. The aza-peptide ligands were evaluated in a chromobox homolog 7 binding assay, providing useful insight into structural requirements for affinity. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.