Papers

Peer-reviewed
May, 2013

In silico discovery of small-molecule Ras inhibitors that display antitumor activity by blocking the Ras-effector interaction

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  • Fumi Shima
  • Yoko Yoshikawa
  • Min Ye
  • Mitsugu Araki
  • Shigeyuki Matsumoto
  • Jingling Liao
  • Lizhi Hu
  • Takeshi Sugimoto
  • Yuichi Ijiri
  • Azusa Takeda
  • Yuko Nishiyama
  • Chie Sato
  • Shin Muraoka
  • Atsuo Tamura
  • Tsutomu Osoda
  • Ken-ichiro Tsuda
  • Tomoya Miyakawa
  • Hiroaki Fukunishi
  • Jiro Shimada
  • Takashi Kumasaka
  • Masaki Yamamoto
  • Tohru Kataoka
  • Display all

Volume
110
Number
20
First page
8182
Last page
8187
Language
English
Publishing type
Research paper (scientific journal)
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1217730110
Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES

Mutational activation of the Ras oncogene products (H-Ras, K-Ras, and N-Ras) is frequently observed in human cancers, making them promising anticancer drug targets. Nonetheless, no effective strategy has been available for the development of Ras inhibitors, partly owing to the absence of well-defined surface pockets suitable for drug binding. Only recently, such pockets have been found in the crystal structures of a unique conformation of Ras center dot GTP. Here we report the successful development of small-molecule Ras inhibitors by an in silico screen targeting a pocket found in the crystal structure of M-Ras center dot GTP carrying an H-Ras-type substitution P40D. The selected compound Kobe0065 and its analog Kobe2602 exhibit inhibitory activity toward H-Ras center dot GTP-c-Raf-1 binding both in vivo and in vitro. They effectively inhibit both anchorage-dependent and -independent growth and induce apoptosis of H-ras(G12V)-transformed NIH 3T3 cells, which is accompanied by down-regulation of downstream molecules such as MEK/ERK, Akt, and RalA as well as an upstream molecule, Son of sevenless. Moreover, they exhibit antitumor activity on a xenograft of human colon carcinoma SW480 cells carrying the K-ras(G12V) gene by oral administration. The NMR structure of a complex of the compound with H-Ras center dot GTP(T35S), exclusively adopting the unique conformation, confirms its insertion into one of the surface pockets and provides a molecular basis for binding inhibition toward multiple Ras center dot GTP-interacting molecules. This study proves the effectiveness of our strategy for structure-based drug design to target Ras center dot GTP, and the resulting Kobe0065-family compounds may serve as a scaffold for the development of Ras inhibitors with higher potency and specificity.

Link information
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1217730110
Web of Science
https://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=JSTA_CEL&SrcApp=J_Gate_JST&DestLinkType=FullRecord&KeyUT=WOS:000319803500048&DestApp=WOS_CPL
ID information
  • DOI : 10.1073/pnas.1217730110
  • ISSN : 0027-8424
  • Web of Science ID : WOS:000319803500048

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