Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Stilbene Boronic Acids Form a Covalent Bond with Human Transthyretin and Inhibit Its Aggregation

Journal Article · · Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Transthyretin (TTR) is a homotetrameric protein. Its dissociation into monomers leads to the formation of fibrils that underlie human amyloidogenic diseases. The binding of small molecules to the thyroxin-binding sites in TTR stabilizes the homotetramer and attenuates TTR amyloidosis. Herein, we report on boronic acid-substituted stilbenes that limit TTR amyloidosis in vitro. Assays of affinity for TTR and inhibition of its tendency to form fibrils were coupled with X-ray crystallographic analysis of nine TTR·ligand complexes. The ensuing structure–function data led to a symmetrical diboronic acid that forms a boronic ester reversibly with serine 117. This diboronic acid inhibits fibril formation by both wild-type TTR and a common disease-related variant, V30M TTR, as effectively as does tafamidis, a small-molecule drug used to treat TTR-related amyloidosis in the clinic. We conclude these findings establish a new modality for covalent inhibition of fibril formation and illuminate a path for future optimization.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Organization:
Genentech Predoctoral Fellowship; National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI ID:
1438876
Journal Information:
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Journal Name: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Journal Issue: 18 Vol. 60; ISSN 0022-2623
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH

References (77)

Molecular recognition with boronic acids—applications in chemical biology journal June 2013
n-Alkylboronic acids as bifunctional reversible inhibitors of α-chymotrypsin journal March 1970
Crystal Structure of the Boronic Acid-Based Proteasome Inhibitor Bortezomib in Complex with the Yeast 20S Proteasome journal March 2006
Transthyretin mutation Leu-55-Pro significantly alters tetramer stability and increases amyloidogenicity journal November 1993
Structural analysis of specificity: .alpha.-lytic protease complexes with analogs of reaction intermediates journal September 1989
2-Phenylethaneboronic acid, a possible transition-state analog for chymotrypsin journal June 1971
Boron Containing Compounds as Protease Inhibitors journal April 2012
Boronate-Mediated Biologic Delivery journal February 2012
Aromatic Sulfonyl Fluorides Covalently Kinetically Stabilize Transthyretin to Prevent Amyloidogenesis while Affording a Fluorescent Conjugate journal February 2013
A Fluorogenic Aryl Fluorosulfate for Intraorganellar Transthyretin Imaging in Living Cells and in Caenorhabditis elegans journal June 2015
Synthesis, Structure, and Activity of Diclofenac Analogues as Transthyretin Amyloid Fibril Formation Inhibitors journal December 2001
Diflunisal Analogues Stabilize the Native State of Transthyretin. Potent Inhibition of Amyloidogenesis journal January 2004
Ligand-promoted protein folding by biased kinetic partitioning journal February 2017
Fluorogenic Assay for Inhibitors of HIV-1 Protease with Sub-picomolar Affinity journal August 2015
Boronic acids in medicinal chemistry: anticancer, antibacterial and antiviral applications journal January 2010
Inhibiting transthyretin amyloid fibril formation via protein stabilization journal December 1996
Features and development of Coot journal March 2010
Recent progress in the understanding and treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis journal April 2014
Sulfated Metabolites of Polychlorinated Biphenyls Are High-Affinity Ligands for the Thyroid Hormone Transport Protein Transthyretin journal June 2013
Novel Transthyretin Amyloid Fibril Formation Inhibitors: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and X-Ray Structural Analysis journal July 2009
Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy: current and emerging treatment options for transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis journal June 2012
Targeted Covalent Inhibitors for Drug Design journal August 2016
A Boronic Acid Conjugate of Angiogenin that Shows ROS-Responsive Neuroprotective Activity journal January 2017
Reversible Lysine Modification on Proteins by Using Functionalized Boronic Acids journal April 2015
Ligand binding to proteins: The binding landscape model journal October 1997
Transthyretin: a review from a structural perspective journal September 2001
Tafamidis: A Review of Its Use in Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy journal July 2014
n-Alkylboronic acids as bifunctional reversible inhibitors of α-chymotrypsin journal March 1970
Inhibition of the serine proteases leukocyte elastase, pancreatic elastase, cathepsin G, and chymotrypsin by peptide boronic acids. journal December 1984
[20] Processing of X-ray diffraction data collected in oscillation mode book January 1997
Assessing the (a)symmetry of concentration-effect curves journal July 2002
Discovering transthyretin amyloid fibril inhibitors by limited screening journal August 1998
The development of proteasome inhibitors as anticancer drugs journal May 2004
Mechanisms of transthyretin cardiomyocyte toxicity inhibition by resveratrol analogs journal July 2011
Interactions between boric acid derivatives and saccharides in aqueous media: Structures and stabilities of resulting esters journal June 2014
Fast trigonal/tetragonal interconversion followed by slow chelate-ring closure in the complexation of boronic acids journal August 2005
The Transthyretin Amyloidoses: From Delineating the Molecular Mechanism of Aggregation Linked to Pathology to a Regulatory-Agency-Approved Drug journal August 2012
Boronic Acid for the Traceless Delivery of Proteins into Cells journal December 2015
Native State Kinetic Stabilization as a Strategy To Ameliorate Protein Misfolding Diseases:  A Focus on the Transthyretin Amyloidoses journal December 2005
Boronate Oxidation as a Bioorthogonal Reaction Approach for Studying the Chemistry of Hydrogen Peroxide in Living Systems journal September 2011
Exploiting the Reversible Covalent Bonding of Boronic Acids: Recognition, Sensing, and Assembly journal November 2012
Transthyretin as both a Sensor and a Scavenger of β-Amyloid Oligomers journal April 2013
Recent Developments in the Chemistry and Biological Applications of Benzoxaboroles journal May 2015
A Stilbene That Binds Selectively to Transthyretin in Cells and Remains Dark until It Undergoes a Chemoselective Reaction To Create a Bright Blue Fluorescent Conjugate journal November 2010
Stilbene Vinyl Sulfonamides as Fluorogenic Sensors of and Traceless Covalent Kinetic Stabilizers of Transthyretin That Prevent Amyloidogenesis journal November 2013
Biochemical and Structural Evaluation of Highly Selective 2-Arylbenzoxazole-Based Transthyretin Amyloidogenesis Inhibitors journal January 2008
Modulation of the Fibrillogenesis Inhibition Properties of Two Transthyretin Ligands by Halogenation journal November 2013
Toward Optimization of the Linker Substructure Common to Transthyretin Amyloidogenesis Inhibitors Using Biochemical and Structural Studies journal October 2008
Polyol Complexes and Structure of the Benzeneboronate Ion journal June 1959
Insights into the Strength and Origin of Halogen Bonding:  The Halobenzene−Formaldehyde Dimer journal March 2007
Mild and Rapid Hydroxylation of Aryl/Heteroaryl Boronic Acids and Boronate Esters with N -Oxides journal June 2012
Protein folding and misfolding journal December 2003
Halogen bonds as orthogonal molecular interactions to hydrogen bonds journal March 2009
Inhibition of Mcl-1 through covalent modification of a noncatalytic lysine side chain journal September 2016
Chemoselective small molecules that covalently modify one lysine in a non-enzyme protein in plasma journal December 2009
The amyloid state and its association with protein misfolding diseases
  • Knowles, Tuomas P. J.; Vendruscolo, Michele; Dobson, Christopher M.
  • Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Vol. 15, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3810
journal May 2014
Phenylboronic acid-based glucose-responsive polymeric nanoparticles: synthesis and applications in drug delivery journal January 2014
LX.—Invertase: a contribution to the history of an enzyme or unorganised ferment journal January 1890
Selective sensing of saccharides using simple boronic acids and their aggregates journal January 2013
Tafamidis, a potent and selective transthyretin kinetic stabilizer that inhibits the amyloid cascade journal May 2012
Ligand binding at the transthyretin dimer–dimer interface: structure of the transthyretin–T4Ac complex at 2.2 Å resolution journal September 2005
PHENIX: a comprehensive Python-based system for macromolecular structure solution journal January 2010
Features and development of Coot journal March 2010
Protein stability induced by ligand binding correlates with changes in protein flexibility journal July 2003
How Much Binding Affinity Can be Gained by Filling a Cavity? journal February 2010
Diflunisal for ATTR Cardiac Amyloidosis: diflunisal for ATTR cardiac amyloidosis journal July 2012
Monitoring Drug Target Engagement in Cells and Tissues Using the Cellular Thermal Shift Assay journal July 2013
Response of a protein structure to cavity-creating mutations and its relation to the hydrophobic effect journal January 1992
Potent Kinetic Stabilizers That Prevent Transthyretin-Mediated Cardiomyocyte Proteotoxicity journal August 2011
Protein Misfolding, Functional Amyloid, and Human Disease journal June 2006
An overview of drugs currently under investigation for the treatment of transthyretin-related hereditary amyloidosis journal May 2014
Neutralization of Transthyretin Reverses the Neuroprotective Effects of Secreted Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) in APPSw Mice Resulting in Tau Phosphorylation and Loss of Hippocampal Neurons: Support for the Amyloid Hypothesis journal September 2004
Mechanisms of Transthyretin Inhibition of  -Amyloid Aggregation In Vitro journal December 2013
Complex of rat transthyretin with tetraiodothyroacetic acid refined at 2.1 and 1.8 A resolution. journal December 2001
Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy: current and emerging treatment options for transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis journal June 2012
Nanoscaled boron-containing delivery systems and therapeutic agents for cancer treatment journal April 2015
Strategies for discovering and derisking covalent, irreversible enzyme inhibitors journal June 2010

Cited By (3)

Rational Design, Synthesis, Characterization and Evaluation of Iodinated 4,4′-Bipyridines as New Transthyretin Fibrillogenesis Inhibitors journal May 2020
Novel Carbazole‐Based N ‐Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands to Access Synthetically Relevant Stilbenes in Pd‐Catalyzed Coupling Processes journal June 2019
Synthesis and Evaluation of the Anticancer and Trypanocidal Activities of Boronic Tyrphostins journal June 2018

Similar Records

Uncovering the mechanism of aggregation of human transthyretin
Journal Article · Sun Oct 11 20:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Biological Chemistry · OSTI ID:1228108

Amyloid seeding of transthyretin by ex vivo cardiac fibrils and its inhibition
Journal Article · Wed Jun 27 20:00:00 EDT 2018 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · OSTI ID:1457595

A Substructure Combination Strategy To Create Potent and Selective Transthyretin Kinetic Stabilizers That Prevent Amyloidogenesis and Cytotoxicity
Journal Article · Fri Aug 13 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · J. Am. Chem. Soc. · OSTI ID:1002589