The relevance of K_i calculation for bi-substrate enzymes illustrated by kinetic evaluation of a novel lysine (K) acetyltransferase 8 inhibitor

Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) are important mediators of epigenetic post-translational modifications of histones that play important roles in health and disease. A disturbance of these modifications can result in disease states, such as cancer or inflammatory diseases. Inhibitors of HATs (HATi) such as lysine (K) acetyltransferase 8 (KAT8), could be used to study the epigenetic processes in diseases related to these enzymes or to investigate HATs as therapeutic targets. However, the development of HATi is challenged by the difficulties in kinetic characterization of HAT enzymes and their inhibitors to enable calculation of a reproducible inhibitory potency. In this study, a fragment screening approach was used, enabling identification of 4-amino-1-naphthol, which potently inhibited KAT8. The inhibitor was investigated for enzyme inhibition using kinetic and calorimetric binding studies. This allowed for calculation of the K_i values for both the free enzyme as well as the acetylated intermediate. Importantly, it revealed a striking difference in binding affinity between the acetylated enzyme and the free enzyme, which could not be revealed by the IC₅₀ value. This shows that kinetic characterization of inhibitors and calculation of K_i values is crucial for determining the binding constants of HAT inhibitors. We anticipate that more comprehensive characterization of enzyme inhibition, as described here, is needed to advance the field of HAT inhibitors.