Alchemical Design of Pharmacological Chaperones with Higher Affinity for Phenylalanine Hydroxylase

Conde-Giménez, M. ; Galano-Frutos, J. J. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Galiana-Cameo, M. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Mahía Moros, A. ; Victor, B. L. ; Salillas Berges, S. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Velázquez-Campoy, A. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Brito, R. M. M. ; Gálvez Lafuente, J. A. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Díaz-de-villegas, M. D. ; Sancho Sanz, J. (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare metabolic disease caused by variations in a human gene, PAH, encoding phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH), and the enzyme converting the essential amino acid phenylalanine into tyrosine. Many PKU-causing variations compromise the conformational stability of the encoded enzyme, decreasing or abolishing its catalytic activity, and leading to an elevated concentration of phenylalanine in the blood, which is neurotoxic. Several therapeutic approaches have been developed to treat the more severe manifestations of the disorder, but they are either not entirely effective or difficult to adhere to throughout life. In a search for novel pharmacological chaperones to treat PKU, a lead compound was discovered (compound IV) that exhibited promising in vitro and in vivo chaperoning activity on PAH. The structure of the PAH-IV complex has been reported. Here, using alchemical free energy calculations (AFEC) on the structure of the PAH-IV complex, we design a new generation of compound IV-analogues with a higher affinity for the enzyme. Seventeen novel analogues were synthesized, and thermal shift and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) assays were performed to experimentally evaluate their stabilizing effect and their affinity for the enzyme. Most of the new derivatives bind to PAH tighter than lead compound IV and induce a greater thermostabilization of the enzyme upon binding. Importantly, the correspondence between the calculated alchemical binding free energies and the experimentally determined ¿¿Gb values is excellent, which supports the use of AFEC to design pharmacological chaperones to treat PKU using the X-ray structure of their complexes with the target PAH enzyme. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.3390/ijms23094502

Año: 2022

Publicado en: International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23, 9 (2022), 4502 [21 pp]
ISSN: 1661-6596

Factor impacto JCR: 5.6 (2022)

Categ. JCR: BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY rank: 66 / 285 = 0.232 (2022) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 52 / 178 = 0.292 (2022) - Q2 - T1

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 7.8 - Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (Q1) - Computer Science (Q1) - Chemistry (Q1) - Chemical Engineering (Q1) - Medicine (Q1)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 1.154 - Medicine (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Physical and Theoretical Chemistry (Q1) - Computer Science Applications (Q1) - Inorganic Chemistry (Q1) - Spectroscopy (Q1) - Organic Chemistry (Q1) - Molecular Biology (Q2) - Catalysis (Q2)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/E45-20R
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/LMP30-18
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/BFU2016-78232-P
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/PID2019- 107293GB-I00

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Área Química Inorgánica (Dpto. Química Inorgánica)
Área (Departamento): Área Microbiología (Dpto. Microb.Ped.Radio.Sal.Pú.)
Área (Departamento): Área Química Orgánica (Dpto. Química Orgánica)
Área (Departamento): Área Bioquímica y Biolog.Mole. (Dpto. Bioq.Biolog.Mol. Celular)