Sweet and blind spots in E3 ligase ligand space revealed by a thermophoresis-based assay

December 4, 2020

Maiwald, S., Heim, C., Alvarez, B., et al.

ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2020, doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.0c00440

Abstract

Repurposing E3 ubiquitin ligases for targeted protein degradation via customized molecular glues or proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) is an increasingly important therapeutic modality. Currently, a major limitation in the design of suitable molecular glues and PROTACs is our fragmentary understanding of E3 ligases and their ligand space. We here describe a quantitative assay for the discovery and characterization of E3 ligase ligands that is based on the thermophoretic behavior of a custom reporter ligand. Thereby, it is orthogonal to commonly employed fluorescence-based assays and less affected by the optical properties of test compounds. It can be employed for the high-throughput screening of compound libraries for a given ligase but also for hit validation, which we demonstrate with the identification of unexpected well-binders and non-binders, yielding new insights into the ligand space of cereblon (CRBN).

View Publication

Topics: Monolith, MST, PROTACs, Publications

Previous Article
6  protein degradation conferences in 2021 you can’t afford to miss
6 protein degradation conferences in 2021 you can’t afford to miss

Conferences in 2021 will gather scientists and experts eager to discuss new discoveries in the emerging fie...

Up next
How to improve the function of your PROTAC degrader by understanding ternary complex formation
How to improve the function of your PROTAC degrader by understanding ternary complex formation

Bifunctional degrader molecules (aka PROTACs) and molecular glues recruit proteins to E3 ubiquitin ligases,...

Ready to characterize your most challenging interactions?

Discover tools to measure binding affinity

Learn more