Search

Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) is a mediator of the MAPK signaling cascade, which regulates different cellular processes including apoptosis, cell survival, and differentiation. The increased activity of ASK1 is associated with a number of human diseases and this protein kinase is considered as promising therapeutic target. In the present study, the kinase domain of human ASK1 was expressed in Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) in soluble form. The expression level of ASK1 was around 0.3–0.47 g per 1 L after using auto-induction protocol or IPTG induction. A one-step on column method for the efficient purification of recombinant ASK1 was performed. Our approach yields sufficient amount of recombinant ASK1, which can be used for inhibitor screening assays and different crystallographic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) plays important roles in the pathogenesis of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, autoimmune disorders, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases suggesting that small compounds inhibiting ASK1 could be used for the treatment of these pathologies. We have identified novel chemical class of ASK1 inhibitors, namely benzothiazol-2-yl-3-hydroxy-5-phenyl-1,5-dihydro-pyrrol-2-one, using molecular modeling techniques. It was found that the most active compound 1-(6-fluoro-benzothiazol-2-yl)-3-hydroxy-5-[3-(3-methyl-butoxy)-phenyl]-4-(2-methyl-2,3-dihydro-benzofuran-5-carbonyl)-1,5-dihydro-pyrrol-2-one (BPyO-34) inhibits ASK1 with IC 50 of 0.52 μM in vitro in kinase assay. The structure–activity relationships of 34 derivatives of benzothiazol-2-yl-3-hydroxy-5-phenyl-1,5-dihydro-pyrrol-2-one have been studied and binding mode of this chemical class has been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-dimensional pharmacophore model of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) inhibitors has been developed with PharmaGist program. The positions of pharmacophore features in the model correspond to conformations of ASK1 highly active inhibitors in which they interact with ATP-binding site of ASK1. The generated pharmacophore model allows accurately predict active and inactive compounds and can be of great use for virtual screening aimed at discovering novel ASK1 inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]