Asymmetric receptor contact is required for tyrosine autophosphorylation of fibroblast growth factor receptor in living cells.

Tyrosine autophosphorylation of receptor tyrosine kinases plays a critical role in regulation of kinase activity and in recruitment and activation of intracellular signaling pathways. Autophosphorylation is mediated by a sequential and precisely ordered intermolecular (trans) reaction. In this report we present structural and biochemical experiments demonstrating that formation of an asymmetric dimer between activated FGFR1 kinase domains is required for transphosphorylation of FGFR1 in FGF-stimulated cells. Transphosphorylation is mediated by specific asymmetric contacts between the N-lobe of one kinase molecule, which serves as an active enzyme, and specific docking sites on the C-lobe of a second kinase molecule, which serves a substrate. Pathological loss-of-function mutations or oncogenic activating mutations in this interface may hinder or facilitate asymmetric dimer formation and transphosphorylation, respectively. The experiments presented in this report provide the molecular basis underlying the control of transphosphorylation of FGF receptors and other receptor tyrosine kinases.

Discovery of novel fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 kinase inhibitors by structure-based virtual screening.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) play important roles in embryonic development, angiogenesis, wound healing, and cell proliferation and differentiation. In search of inhibitors of FGFR1 kinase, 2.2 million compounds were docked into the ATP binding site of the protein. A co-crystal structure, which shows two alternative conformations for the nucleotide binding loop, is reported. Docking was performed on both conformations and, ultimately, 23 diverse compounds were purchased and assayed. Following hit validation, two compounds 10 and 16, a benzylidene derivative of pseudothiohydantoin and a thienopyrimidinone derivative, respectively, were discovered that inhibit FGFR1 kinase with IC(50) values of 23 and 50 microM. Initial optimization of 16 led to the more unsaturated 40, which has significantly enhanced potency, 1.9 microM. The core structures represent new structural motifs for FGFR1 kinase inhibitors. The study also illustrates complexities associated with the choice of protein structures for docking, possible use of multiple kinase structures to seek selectivity, and hit identification.

Structural basis for activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT by stem cell factor.

Stem Cell Factor (SCF) initiates its multiple cellular responses by binding to the ectodomain of KIT, resulting in tyrosine kinase activation. We describe the crystal structure of the entire ectodomain of KIT before and after SCF stimulation. The structures show that KIT dimerization is driven by SCF binding whose sole role is to bring two KIT molecules together. Receptor dimerization is followed by conformational changes that enable lateral interactions between membrane proximal Ig-like domains D4 and D5 of two KIT molecules. Experiments with cultured cells show that KIT activation is compromised by point mutations in amino acids critical for D4-D4 interaction. Moreover, a variety of oncogenic mutations are mapped to the D5-D5 interface. Since key hallmarks of KIT structures, ligand-induced receptor dimerization, and the critical residues in the D4-D4 interface, are conserved in other receptors, the mechanism of KIT stimulation unveiled in this report may apply for other receptor activation.

Crystal structures of proto-oncogene kinase Pim1: a target of aberrant somatic hypermutations in diffuse large cell lymphoma.

Pim1, a serine/threonine kinase, is involved in several biological functions including cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation. While pim1 has been shown to be involved in several hematopoietic cancers, it was also recently identified as a target of aberrant somatic hypermutation in diffuse large cell lymphoma (DLCL), the most common form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The crystal structures of Pim1 in apo form and bound with AMPPNP have been solved and several unique features of Pim1 were identified, including the presence of an extra beta-hairpin in the N-terminal lobe and an unusual conformation of the hinge connecting the two lobes of the enzyme. While the apo Pim1 structure is nearly identical with that reported recently, the structure of AMPPNP bound to Pim1 is significantly different. Pim1 is unique among protein kinases due to the presence of a proline residue at position 123 that precludes the formation of the canonical second hydrogen bond between the hinge backbone and the adenine moiety of ATP. One crystal structure reported here shows that changing P123 to methionine, a common residue that offers the backbone hydrogen bond to ATP, does not restore the ATP binding pocket of Pim1 to that of a typical kinase. These unique structural features in Pim1 result in novel binding modes of AMP and a known kinase inhibitor scaffold, as shown by co-crystallography. In addition, the kinase activities of five Pim1 mutants identified in DLCL patients have been determined. In each case, the observed effects on kinase activity are consistent with the predicted consequences of the mutation on the Pim1 structure. Finally, 70 co-crystal structures of low molecular mass, low-affinity compounds with Pim1 have been solved in order to identify novel chemical classes as potential Pim1 inhibitors. Based on the structural information, opportunities for optimization of one specific example are discussed.