1. Development of the first small molecule histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) degraders.
Yang, K., Song, Y., Xie, H., Wu, H., Wu, Y.T., Leisten, E.D. and Tang, W., 2018. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters, 28(14), pp.2493-2497.
Histone deacetylases (HDACs) decrease the acetylation level of histones and other non-histone proteins. Over expression of HDACs have been observed in cancers and other diseases. Targeted protein degradation by "hijacking" the natural ubiquitin-proteasome-system (UPS) recently emerged as a novel technology to "knock-out" endogenous disease-causing proteins. We applied this strategy to the development of the first small molecule degraders for zinc-dependent HDACs by conjugating non-selective HDAC inhibitors with E3 ubiquitin ligase ligands. Through cell-based assays, we discovered novel bifunctional molecules (dHDAC6) that could selectively degrade HDAC6. Further mechanistic studies indicated that HDAC6 was selectively removed by the UPS.