1. Strategies to Reduce the On-Target Platelet Toxicity of Bcl-xL Inhibitors: PROTACs, SNIPERs and Prodrug-Based Approaches
Anne Sophie Voisin-Chiret, Arvind Negi Chembiochem . 2022 Jun 20;23(12):e202100689. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202100689.
Apoptosis is a highly regulated cellular process. Aberration in apoptosis is a common characteristic of various disorders. Therefore, proteins involved in apoptosis are prime targets in multiple therapies. Bcl-xLis an antiapoptotic protein. Compared to other antiapoptotic proteins, the expression of Bcl-xLis common in solid tumors and, to an extent, in some leukemias and lymphomas. The overexpression of Bcl-xLis also linked to survival and chemoresistance in cancer and senescent cells. Therefore, Bcl-xLis a promising anticancer and senolytic target. Various nanomolar range Bcl-xLinhibitors have been developed. ABT-263 was successfully identified as a Bcl-xL/Bcl-2 dual inhibitor. But it failed in the clinical trial (phase-II) because of its on-target platelet toxicity, which also implies an essential role of Bcl-xLprotein in the survival of human platelets. Classical Bcl-xLinhibitor designs utilize occupancy-driven pharmacology with typical shortcomings (such as dose-dependent off-target and on-target platelet toxicities). Hence, event-driven pharmacology-based approaches, such as proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) and SNIPERs (specific non-genetic IAP-based protein erasers) have been developed. The development of Bcl-xLbased PROTACs was expected, as 600 E3-ligases are available in humans, while some (such as cereblon (CRBN), von Hippel-Lindau (VHL)) are relatively less expressed in platelets. Therefore, E3 ligase ligand-based Bcl-xLPROTACs (CRBN: XZ424, XZ739; VHL: DT2216, PZ703b, 753b) showed a significant improvement in platelet therapeutic index than their parent molecules (ABT-263: DT2216, PZ703b, 753b, XZ739, PZ15227; A1155463: XZ424). Other than their distinctive pharmacology, PROTACs are molecularly large, which limits their cell permeability and plays a role in improving their cell selectivity. We also discuss prodrug-based approaches, such as antibody-drug conjugates (ABBV-155), phosphate prodrugs (APG-1252), dendrimer conjugate (AZD0466), and glycosylated conjugates (Nav-Gal). Studies of in-vitro, in-vivo, structure-activity relationships, biophysical characterization, and status of preclinical/clinical inhibitors derived from these strategies are also discussed in the review.
2. Discovery of PROTAC BCL-XL degraders as potent anticancer agents with low on-target platelet toxicity
Guangrong Zheng, Yaxia Yuan, Peiyi Zhang, Dinesh Thummuri, Sajid Khan, Xingui Liu, Xuan Zhang, Daohong Zhou, Wanyi Hu Eur J Med Chem . 2020 Apr 15;192:112186. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112186.
Anti-apoptotic protein BCL-XLplays a key role in tumorigenesis and cancer chemotherapy resistance, rendering it an attractive target for cancer treatment. However, BCL-XLinhibitors such as ABT-263 cannot be safely used in the clinic because platelets solely depend on BCL-XLto maintain their viability. To reduce the on-target platelet toxicity associated with the inhibition of BCL-XL, we designed and synthesized PROTAC BCL-XLdegraders that recruit CRBN or VHL E3 ligase because both of these enzymes are poorly expressed in human platelets compared to various cancer cell lines. We confirmed that platelet-toxic BCL-XL/2 dual inhibitor ABT-263 can be converted into platelet-sparing CRBN/VHL-based BCL-XLspecific degraders. A number of BCL-XLdegraders are more potent in killing cancer cells than their parent compound ABT-263. Specifically, XZ739, a CRBN-dependent BCL-XLdegrader, is 20-fold more potent than ABT-263 against MOLT-4 T-ALL cells and has >100-fold selectivity for MOLT-4 cells over human platelets. Our findings further demonstrated the utility of PROTAC technology to achieve tissue selectivity through recruiting differentially expressed E3 ligases.
