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1.
Chem Commun (Camb) ; 55(9): 1259-1262, 2019 Jan 24.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30632548

ABSTRACT

A significant barrier to harnessing the power of cell-surface glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) to modulate glial cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) signaling is the difficulty in accessing key GAG structures involved. Here, we report tailored GDNF signaling using synthetic polyproline-based GAG mimetics (PGMs). PGMs deliver the much needed proactive programmability for GDNF recognition and effectively modulate GDNF-mediated neuronal processes in a cellular context.

2.
Chem Sci ; 9(41): 7940-7947, 2018 Nov 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30429999

ABSTRACT

Controlling glycosaminoglycan (GAG) activity to exploit its immense potential in biology ultimately requires facile manipulation of sulfation patterns associated with GAGs. However, satisfying this requirement in full remains challenging, given that synthesis of GAGs is technically arduous while convenient GAG mimetics often produce sulfation patterns that are uncharacteristic of GAGs. To overcome this, we develop saccharide-free polyproline-based GAG mimetics (PGMs) that can be facilely assembled via amide coupling chemistry. Molecular dynamics simulations show that PGMs recapitulate key GAG structural features (i.e. ∼9 Å-sized repeating units, periodicity and helicity) and as with GAGs, can be tuned to introduce systematic variations in sulfate clustering and spacing. Functionally, a variety of PGMs control various GAG activities (concerning P-selectin, neurotrophic factors and heparinase) and exhibit GAG-like characteristics such as progressive modulation, comparable effectiveness with heparins, need for different sequences to suit different activities and the presence of a "minimal bioactive length". Furthermore, PGMs produce consistent effects in vivo and successfully provide therapeutic benefits over cancer metastasis. Taken together with their high level of biosafety, PGMs answer the long-standing need for an effective and practicable strategy to manipulate GAG-appropriate sulfation patterns and exploit GAG activity in medicine and biotechnology.

3.
Chem Commun (Camb) ; 51(18): 3793-6, 2015 Mar 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25648913

ABSTRACT

The secondary structure of the coiled coil peptides was regulated by altering the azido content at the hydrophobic core. These peptides were further investigated to form higher-order assemblies presumably via azido-mediated interactions.


Subject(s)
Azides/chemistry , Peptides/chemistry , Circular Dichroism , Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions , Microscopy, Electron, Transmission , Protein Structure, Secondary
4.
Chem Sci ; 6(1): 450-456, 2015 Jan 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28694940

ABSTRACT

The challenges inherent in the synthesis of large glycosaminoglycan (GAG) polysaccharides have made chemically accessible multivalent glycoligands a valuable tool in the field of GAG mimetics. However, the difficulty of positioning sulfated sugar motifs at desired sites has hindered efforts to precisely tailor their biofunctions. Here, we achieved precise orientation of sulfated disaccharide motifs by taking advantage of a structurally well-defined polyproline scaffold, and describe systematic explorations into the importance of the spatial arrangement of sulfated sugars along the scaffold backbone in designing multivalent glycoligands. Our protein binding studies demonstrate that the specific conformational display of pendant sugars is central to direct their multivalent interactions with NGF. By employing computational modeling and cellular studies, we have further applied this approach to engineer NGF-mediated signaling by regulating the NGF/TrkA complexation process, leading to enhanced neuronal differentiation and neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells. Our findings offer a promising strategy for the pinpoint engineering of GAG-mediated biological processes and a novel method of designing new therapeutic agents that are highly specific to GAG-associated disease.

5.
Chem Commun (Camb) ; 51(6): 1042-5, 2015 Jan 21.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25434597

ABSTRACT

Using both circulating flow and batch reaction systems, we explored the role of immobilized alkoxybenzylidene ligands in capturing and stabilizing active ruthenium species. The bidentate ligands turned out to considerably affect reaction rate, catalyst decomposition, leaching and recycling. It was also observed that the dynamic release-return catalytic pathway worked more efficiently in a batch system leading to less catalyst decomposition and leaching.


Subject(s)
Benzylidene Compounds/metabolism , Silicon Dioxide/chemistry , Benzylidene Compounds/chemistry , Catalysis , Ligands
6.
Chembiochem ; 16(3): 407-10, 2015 Feb 09.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25530443

ABSTRACT

Here, we describe systematic explorations into the molecular basis underlying hydroxyproline-mediated interstrand interactions on the triple-helical stability of collagen-mimetic peptides containing glutamic acid residues. Our studies reveal that the triple-helical stability of these peptides relies on the existence of interstrand interactions between hydroxyprolines and glutamic acid residues that are pH dependent. These unique interactions have been used to engineer collagen peptides that form triple helices on demand through pH control.


Subject(s)
Collagen/chemistry , Glutamic Acid/chemistry , Hydroxyproline/chemistry , Hydrogen Bonding , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , Peptides/chemistry , Protein Conformation , Protein Denaturation
8.
Chem Sci ; 1(3): 322-325, 2010 Sep 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-21274421

ABSTRACT

Glycosaminoglycans are sulfated polysaccharides that play important roles in fundamental biological processes, such as cell division, viral invasion, cancer and neuroregeneration. The multivalent presentation of multiple glycosaminoglycan chains on proteoglycan scaffolds may profoundly influence their interactions with proteins and subsequent biological activity. However, the importance of this multivalent architecture remains largely unexplored, and few synthetic mimics exist for probing and manipulating glycosaminoglycan activity. Here, we describe a new class of end-functionalized ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) polymers that mimic the native-like, multivalent architecture found on chondroitin sulfate (CS) proteoglycans. We demonstrate that these glycopolymers can be readily integrated with microarray and surface plasmon resonance technology platforms, where they retain the ability to interact selectively with proteins. ROMP-based glycopolymers are part of a growing arsenal of chemical tools for probing the functions of glycosaminoglycans and for studying their interactions with proteins.

10.
Curr Top Med Chem ; 7(10): 928-42, 2007.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-17508924

ABSTRACT

Due to the pivotal roles that protein-protein interactions play in a plethora of biological processes, the design of therapeutic agents targeting these interactions has become an attractive and important area of research. The development of such agents is faced with a variety of challenges. Nevertheless, considerable progress has been made in the design of proteomimetics capable of disrupting protein-protein interactions. Those inhibitors based on molecular scaffold designs hold considerable interest because of the ease of variation in regard to their displayed functionality. In particular, protein surface mimetics, alpha-helical mimetics, beta-sheet/beta-strand mimetics, as well as beta-turn mimetics have successfully modulated protein-protein interactions involved in such diseases as cancer and HIV. In this review, current progress in the development of molecular scaffolds designed for the disruption of protein-protein interactions will be discussed with an emphasis on those active against biological targets.


Subject(s)
Drug Design , Proteins , Animals , Binding Sites , Humans , Ligands , Models, Molecular , Molecular Mimicry , Protein Binding , Protein Conformation , Protein Folding , Protein Interaction Mapping , Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors , Proteins/chemistry , Proteins/genetics , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/chemistry , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/genetics
11.
Chem Biol ; 13(4): 421-6, 2006 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-16632254

ABSTRACT

A library of dimerization inhibitors of HIV-1 protease is described based on crosslinked interfacial peptides. The 54 component library was designed to contain two modifications to the starting structure, one each in the Northern and Southern fragments. A rapid synthesis and in situ screening method in microtiter plates was developed to facilitate the generation and evaluation of the library members. More than 90% of the doubly modified agents were more potent than their respective singly mutated parent compounds, and five of the most potent dimerization inhibitors of HIV-1 protease described to date were identified. The free energy of binding for the combined two modifications was generally found to be additive, demonstrating the predictive value of earlier libraries.


Subject(s)
HIV Protease Inhibitors/pharmacology , HIV-1/drug effects , HIV-1/enzymology , Dimerization , Drug Resistance, Viral , HIV Protease Inhibitors/chemical synthesis , HIV Protease Inhibitors/chemistry , Humans , In Vitro Techniques , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Oligopeptides/chemical synthesis , Oligopeptides/chemistry , Oligopeptides/pharmacology , Peptide Library , Protein Structure, Quaternary/drug effects
12.
J Am Chem Soc ; 126(32): 9886-7, 2004 Aug 18.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-15303839

ABSTRACT

We demonstrate that a focused library based on truncated, cross-linked interfacial peptides of HIV-1 protease produces effective dimerization inhibitors of the enzyme. By combining individual changes of the library into a single compound, we obtained a significantly more potent agent and found that an additive increase in inhibitor efficacy was obtained. The good activity of library members against an active-site drug-resistant protease mutant bodes well for dimerization inhibition as a complementary method to targeting the active site.


Subject(s)
HIV Protease Inhibitors/chemistry , HIV Protease Inhibitors/pharmacology , HIV Protease/metabolism , Binding Sites , Dimerization , Drug Resistance, Viral/genetics , HIV Protease/genetics , HIV Protease Inhibitors/chemical synthesis , Humans , Kinetics , Models, Molecular , Mutation , Structure-Activity Relationship
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