Discovery of two aminoglycoside antibiotics as inhibitors targeting the menin-mixed lineage leukaemia interface

Lianchun Li; Ran Zhou; Heji Geng; Liyan Yue; Fei Ye; Yiqian Xie; Jingqiu Liu; Xiangqian Kong; Hualiang Jiang; Jiandong Huang; Cheng Luo

doi:10.1016/j.bmcl.2014.03.055

Discovery of two aminoglycoside antibiotics as inhibitors targeting the menin-mixed lineage leukaemia interface

Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2014 May 1;24(9):2090-3. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2014.03.055. Epub 2014 Mar 26.

Authors

Lianchun Li¹, Ran Zhou², Heji Geng³, Liyan Yue², Fei Ye⁴, Yiqian Xie², Jingqiu Liu², Xiangqian Kong², Hualiang Jiang², Jiandong Huang³, Cheng Luo⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China; Drug Discovery and Design Center, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
² Drug Discovery and Design Center, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
³ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China.
⁴ Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, College of Life Sciences, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: yefei@zstu.edu.cn.
⁵ Drug Discovery and Design Center, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. Electronic address: cluo@simm.ac.cn.

PMID: 24709560
DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2014.03.055

Abstract

Menin functions as an oncogenic cofactor of mixed lineage leukaemia (MLL) fusion proteins in leukaemogenesis. The menin-MLL interface is a potential therapeutic target in acute leukaemia cases. In this study, approximately 900 clinical compounds were evaluated and ranked using pharmacophore-based virtual screening, the top 29 hits were further evaluated by biochemical analysis to discover the inhibitors that target the menin-MLL interface. Two aminoglycoside antibiotics, neomycin and tobramycin, were identified as menin-MLL inhibitors with binding affinities of 18.8 and 59.9 μM, respectively. The results of thermal shift assay validated the direct interactions between the two antibiotics and menin. The results of isothermal titration calorimetry showed that the equilibrium dissociation constant between menin and neomycin was approximately 15.6 μM. We also predicted the binding modes of inhibitors at the menin-MLL interface through molecular docking analysis. The results indicated that neomycin and tobramycin competitively occupy the binding site of MLL. This study has shed light on the development of powerful probes and new therapies for MLL-mediated leukaemogenesis.

Keywords: Inhibitors; Menin; Mixed lineage leukaemia; Pharmacophore-based virtual screening.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry
Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
Humans
Leukemia / drug therapy
Models, Molecular
Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein / antagonists & inhibitors*
Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein / metabolism
Neomycin / chemistry
Neomycin / pharmacology*
Protein Binding / drug effects
Protein Interaction Maps / drug effects
Proto-Oncogene Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors*
Proto-Oncogene Proteins / metabolism
Tobramycin / chemistry
Tobramycin / pharmacology*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
MEN1 protein, human
Proto-Oncogene Proteins
Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein
Neomycin
Tobramycin