How to Separate Kinase Inhibition from Undesired Monoamine Oxidase A Inhibition-The Development of the DYRK1A Inhibitor AnnH75 from the Alkaloid Harmine.

The ß-carboline alkaloid harmine is a potent DYRK1A inhibitor, but suffers from undesired potent inhibition of MAO-A, which strongly limits its application. We synthesized more than 60 analogues of harmine, either by direct modification of the alkaloid or by de novo synthesis of ß-carboline and related scaffolds aimed at learning about structure-activity relationships for inhibition of both DYRK1A and MAO-A, with the ultimate goal of separating desired DYRK1A inhibition from undesired MAO-A inhibition. Based on evidence from published crystal structures of harmine bound to each of these enzymes, we performed systematic structure modifications of harmine yielding DYRK1A-selective inhibitors characterized by small polar substituents at N-9 (which preserve DYRK1A inhibition and eliminate MAO-A inhibition) and beneficial residues at C-1 (methyl or chlorine). The top compound AnnH75 remains a potent DYRK1A inhibitor, and it is devoid of MAO-A inhibition. Its binding mode to DYRK1A was elucidated by crystal structure analysis, and docking experiments provided additional insights for this attractive series of DYRK1A and MAO-A inhibitors.

Selectivity Profiling and Biological Activity of Novel ß-Carbolines as Potent and Selective DYRK1 Kinase Inhibitors.

DYRK1A is a pleiotropic protein kinase with diverse functions in cellular regulation, including cell cycle control, neuronal differentiation, and synaptic transmission. Enhanced activity and overexpression of DYRK1A have been linked to altered brain development and function in Down syndrome and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. The ß-carboline alkaloid harmine is a high affinity inhibitor of DYRK1A but suffers from the drawback of inhibiting monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) with even higher potency. Here we characterized a series of novel harmine analogs with minimal or absent MAO-A inhibitory activity. We identified several inhibitors with submicromolar potencies for DYRK1A and selectivity for DYRK1A and DYRK1B over the related kinases DYRK2 and HIPK2. An optimized inhibitor, AnnH75, inhibited CLK1, CLK4, and haspin/GSG2 as the only off-targets in a panel of 300 protein kinases. In cellular assays, AnnH75 dose-dependently reduced the phosphorylation of three known DYRK1A substrates (SF3B1, SEPT4, and tau) without negative effects on cell viability. AnnH75 inhibited the cotranslational tyrosine autophosphorylation of DYRK1A and threonine phosphorylation of an exogenous substrate protein with similar potency. In conclusion, we have characterized an optimized ß-carboline inhibitor as a highly selective chemical probe that complies with desirable properties of drug-like molecules and is suitable to interrogate the function of DYRK1A in biological studies.

Mechanism of dual specificity kinase activity of DYRK1A.

The function of many protein kinases is controlled by the phosphorylation of a critical tyrosine residue in the activation loop. Dual specificity tyrosine-phosphorylation-regulated kinases (DYRKs) autophosphorylate on this tyrosine residue but phosphorylate substrates on aliphatic amino acids. This study addresses the mechanism of dual specificity kinase activity in DYRK1A and related kinases. Tyrosine autophosphorylation of DYRK1A occurred rapidly during in vitro translation and did not depend on the non-catalytic domains or other proteins. Expression in bacteria as well as in mammalian cells revealed that tyrosine kinase activity of DYRK1A is not restricted to the co-translational autophosphorylation in the activation loop. Moreover, mature DYRK1A was still capable of tyrosine autophosphorylation. Point mutants of DYRK1A and DYRK2 lacking the activation loop tyrosine showed enhanced tyrosine kinase activity. A series of structurally diverse DYRK1A inhibitors was used to pharmacologically distinguish different conformational states of the catalytic domain that are hypothesized to account for the dual specificity kinase activity. All tested compounds inhibited substrate phosphorylation with higher potency than autophosphorylation but none of the tested inhibitors differentially inhibited threonine and tyrosine kinase activity. Finally, the related cyclin-dependent kinase-like kinases (CLKs), which lack the activation loop tyrosine, autophosphorylated on tyrosine both in vitro and in living cells. We propose a model of DYRK autoactivation in which tyrosine autophosphorylation in the activation loop stabilizes a conformation of the catalytic domain with enhanced serine/threonine kinase activity without disabling tyrosine phosphorylation. The mechanism of dual specificity kinase activity probably applies to related serine/threonine kinases that depend on tyrosine autophosphorylation for maturation.