skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Small molecule inhibitors of mesotrypsin from a structure-based docking screen

Journal Article · · PLoS ONE
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Jacksonville, FL (United States). Department of Cancer Biology
  2. University of Minnesota, Austin, MN (United States). The Hormel Institute
  3. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Photon Sciences Directorate
  4. Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL (United States). Department of Neuroscience

PRSS3/mesotrypsin is an atypical isoform of trypsin, the upregulation of which has been implicated in promoting tumor progression. To date there are no mesotrypsin-selective pharmacological inhibitors which could serve as tools for deciphering the pathological role of this enzyme, and could potentially form the basis for novel therapeutic strategies targeting mesotrypsin. A virtual screen of the Natural Product Database (NPD) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Drug Database was conducted by high-throughput molecular docking utilizing crystal structures of mesotrypsin. Twelve high-scoring compounds were selected for testing based on lowest free energy docking scores, interaction with key mesotrypsin active site residues, and commercial availability. Diminazene (C1D22956468), along with two similar compounds presenting the bis-benzamidine substructure, was validated as a competitive inhibitor of mesotrypsin and other human trypsin isoforms. Diminazene is the most potent small molecule inhibitor of mesotrypsin reported to date with an inhibitory constant (Ki) of 3.6±0.3 pM. Diminazene was subsequently co-crystalized with mesotrypsin and the crystal structure was solved and refined to 1.25 Å resolution. This high resolution crystal structure can now offer a foundation for structure-guided efforts to develop novel and potentially more selective mesotrypsin inhibitors based on similar molecular substructures.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1430883
Report Number(s):
BNL-203390-2018-JAAM
Journal Information:
PLoS ONE, Vol. 12, Issue 5; ISSN 1932-6203
Publisher:
Public Library of ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (46)

A trypanosome oligopeptidase as a target for the trypanocidal agents pentamidine, diminazene and suramin journal August 1998
Flexible ligand docking using conformational ensembles journal April 1998
Refinement of Macromolecular Structures by the Maximum-Likelihood Method journal May 1997
Mesotrypsin: A New Inhibitor-Resistant Protease From, a Zymogen in Human Pancreatic Tissue and Fluid journal April 1984
Multiple pathways are involved in DNA degradation during keratinocyte terminal differentiation journal April 2014
Crystal structure reveals basis for the inhibitor resistance of human brain trypsin journal February 2002
Cis−Trans Isomerization of Organic Molecules and Biomolecules:  Implications and Applications journal July 2003
Mesotrypsin and Caspase-14 Participate in Prosaposin Processing: POTENTIAL RELEVANCE TO EPIDERMAL PERMEABILITY BARRIER FORMATION journal May 2014
Glide:  A New Approach for Rapid, Accurate Docking and Scoring. 1. Method and Assessment of Docking Accuracy journal March 2004
Synthesis of Rigidified eIF4E/eIF4G Inhibitor-1 (4EGI-1) Mimetic and Their in Vitro Characterization as Inhibitors of Protein–Protein Interaction journal June 2014
Human Mesotrypsin Is a Unique Digestive Protease Specialized for the Degradation of Trypsin Inhibitors journal September 2003
A New Generation of Crystallographic Validation Tools for the Protein Data Bank journal October 2011
The Future of Peptide-based Drugs journal December 2012
Activity of recombinant trypsin isoforms on human proteinase-activated receptors (PAR): mesotrypsin cannot activate epithelial PAR-1, -2, but weakly activates brain PAR-1 journal December 2005
The P2′ residue is a key determinant of mesotrypsin specificity: engineering a high-affinity inhibitor with anticancer activity journal October 2011
Trypsin IV or Mesotrypsin and p23 Cleave Protease-activated Receptors 1 and 2 to Induce Inflammation and Hyperalgesia journal July 2007
Keratinocyte-Specific Mesotrypsin Contributes to the Desquamation Process via Kallikrein Activation and LEKTI Degradation journal June 2014
Ligand Bioactive Conformation Plays a Critical Role in the Design of Drugs That Target the Hepatitis C Virus NS3 Protease journal November 2013
Sequence and Conformational Specificity in Substrate Recognition: SEVERAL HUMAN KUNITZ PROTEASE INHIBITOR DOMAINS ARE SPECIFIC SUBSTRATES OF MESOTRYPSIN journal October 2014
PRSS3 promotes tumour growth and metastasis of human pancreatic cancer journal October 2010
Identification of novel peptide inhibitors for human trypsins journal February 2010
Mesotrypsin Has Evolved Four Unique Residues to Cleave Trypsin Inhibitors as Substrates journal July 2015
Autocrine Extra-Pancreatic Trypsin 3 Secretion Promotes Cell Proliferation and Survival in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma journal October 2013
The Amyloid Precursor Protein/Protease Nexin 2 Kunitz Inhibitor Domain Is a Highly Specific Substrate of Mesotrypsin journal November 2009
Trypsinogen 4 boosts tumor endothelial cells migration through proteolysis of tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 journal July 2015
Discovery of benzothiazole guanidines as novel inhibitors of thrombin and trypsin IV journal July 2012
Determinants of Affinity and Proteolytic Stability in Interactions of Kunitz Family Protease Inhibitors with Mesotrypsin journal September 2010
Unconventional translation initiation of human trypsinogen 4 at a CUG codon with an N-terminal leucine: A possible means to regulate gene expression journal February 2007
PRSS3 expression is associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer journal June 2015
PRSS3/Mesotrypsin Is a Therapeutic Target for Metastatic Prostate Cancer journal December 2012
Combinatorial protein engineering of proteolytically resistant mesotrypsin inhibitors as candidates for cancer therapy journal May 2016
Structural binding evidence of the trypanocidal drugs Berenil® and Pentacarinate® active principles to a serine protease model journal June 2010
Keratinocytes Synthesize Enteropeptidase and Multiple Forms of Trypsinogen during Terminal Differentiation journal April 2010
Discovery of XEN907, a spirooxindole blocker of NaV1.7 for the treatment of pain journal June 2011
Extra Precision Glide:  Docking and Scoring Incorporating a Model of Hydrophobic Enclosure for Protein−Ligand Complexes journal October 2006
Conformation-Based Restrictions and Scaffold Replacements in the Design of Hepatitis C Virus Polymerase Inhibitors: Discovery of Deleobuvir (BI 207127) journal November 2013
Mesotrypsin promotes malignant growth of breast cancer cells through shedding of CD109 journal December 2009
Coot model-building tools for molecular graphics journal November 2004
Features and development of Coot journal March 2010
Kinetic Studies on the Thermal Cis−Trans Isomerization of 1,3-Diphenyltriazene in Aqueous Solution. Effects of Acids and Bases journal September 2000
S100 Family Members and Trypsinogens Are Predictors of Distant Metastasis and Survival in Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer journal August 2004
Molecular replacement with MOLREP journal December 2009
An Acrobatic Substrate Metamorphosis Reveals a Requirement for Substrate Conformational Dynamics in Trypsin Proteolysis journal November 2016
The Protein Data Bank journal January 2000
PRSS3/mesotrypsin in prostate cancer progression: implications for translational medicine journal March 2013
Structural Basis for Accelerated Cleavage of Bovine Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitor (BPTI) by Human Mesotrypsin journal December 2007

Cited By (2)

PRSS3/Mesotrypsin and kallikrein-related peptidase 5 are associated with poor prognosis and contribute to tumor cell invasion and growth in lung adenocarcinoma journal February 2019
Proteases: Pivot Points in Functional Proteomics book October 2018