Proposed allosteric inhibitors bind to the ATP site of CK2α

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>CK2α is a ubiquitous, well-studied protein kinase that is a target for small molecule inhibition, for treatment of cancers. While many different classes of ATP-competitive inhibitors have been described for CK2α, they tend to suffer from significant off-target activity and new approaches are needed. A series of inhibitors of CK2α has recently been described as allosteric, acting at a previously unidentified binding site. Given the similarity of these inhibitors to known ATP-competitive inhibitors, we have investigated these further. In our thorough structural and biophysical analyses, we have found no evidence that these inhibitors bind to the proposed allosteric site. Rather, we report crystal structures, competitive ITC and NMR, HDX mass spectrometry and chemoinformatic analyses that all point to these compounds binding in the ATP pocket. Our crystal structures however do show that the proposed allosteric site can bind ligands, just not those in the previously described series. Comparison of our results and experimental details with the data presented in the original report suggest several reasons for the disparity in our conclusions, the primary reason being non-specific inhibition by aggregation.</jats:p>