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Recent advances in targeted protein degradation have enabled chemical hijacking of the ubiquitin-proteasome system to treat disease. The catalytic rate of cereblon (CRBN)-dependent bifunctional degradation activating compounds (BiDAC), which recruit CRBN to a chosen target protein, resulting in its ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation, is an important parameter to consider during the drug discovery process. In this work, an in vitro system was developed to measure the kinetics of BRD4 bromodomain 1 (BD1) ubiquitination by fitting an essential activator kinetic model to these data. The affinities between BiDACs, BD1, and CRBN in the binary complex, ternary complex, and full ubiquitination complex were characterized. Together, this work provides a new tool for understanding and optimizing the catalytic and thermodynamic properties of BiDACs.

The aberrant regulation of protein expression and function can drastically alter cellular physiology and lead to numerous pathophysiological conditions such as cancer, inflammatory diseases, and neurodegeneration. The steady-state expression levels of endogenous proteins are controlled by a balance of de novo synthesis rates and degradation rates. Moreover, the levels of activated proteins in signaling cascades can be further modulated by a variety of posttranslational modifications and protein-protein interactions. The field of targeted protein degradation is an emerging area for drug discovery in which small molecules are used to recruit E3 ubiquitin ligases to catalyze the ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of disease-causing target proteins by the proteasome in both a dose- and time-dependent manner. Traditional approaches for quantifying protein level changes in cells, such as Western blots, are typically low throughput with limited quantification, making it hard to drive the rapid development of therapeutics that induce selective, rapid, and sustained protein degradation. In the last decade, a number of techniques and technologies have emerged that have helped to accelerate targeted protein degradation drug discovery efforts, including the use of fluorescent protein fusions and reporter tags, flow cytometry, time-resolved fluorescence energy transfer (TR-FRET), and split luciferase systems. Here we discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with these technologies and their application to the development and optimization of degraders as therapeutics.

The protein quality control network (pQC) plays critical roles in maintaining protein and cellular homeostasis, especially during stress. Lon is a major pQC AAA+ protease, conserved from bacteria to human mitochondria. It is the principal enzyme that degrades most unfolded or damaged proteins. Degradation by Lon also controls cellular levels of several key regulatory proteins. Recently, our group determined that Escherichia coli Lon, previously thought to be an obligate homo‐hexamer, also forms a dodecamer. This larger assembly has decreased ATPase activity and displays substrate‐specific alterations in degradation compared with the hexamer. Here we experimentally probe the physical hexamer–hexamer interactions and the biological roles of the Lon dodecamer. Using structure prediction methods coupled with mutagenesis, we identified a key interface and specific residues within the Lon N domain that participates in an intermolecular coiled coil unique to the dodecamer. With this knowledge, we made a Lon variant (Lon(VQ)) that forms a dodecamer with increased stability, as determined by analytical ultracentrifugation and electron microscopy. Using this altered Lon, we characterize the Lon dodecamer's activities using a panel of substrates. Lon dodecamers are clearly functional, and complement critical lon‐ phenotypes but also exhibit altered substrate specificity. For example, the small heat shock proteins IbpA and IbpB are only efficiently degraded well by the hexamer. Thus, by elucidating the intermolecular contacts connecting the hexamers, we are starting to illuminate how dodecamer formation versus disassembly can alter Lon function under conditions where controlling specific activities and substrate preferences of this key protease may be advantageous.

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) with heterobifunctional small molecules is emerging as a promising new therapeutic modality in oncology. We sought to understand how TPD compares versus targeted protein inhibition. We used BRD4 as a surrogate target given literature showing BET degraders have a global suppressive effect on transcription compared to BET inhibitors that preferentially affect superenhancers. We selected the BET degrader CFT-743 from a library of CRBN-biased degraders based on its specificity, potency and optimum in vivo properties that enable a therapeutic window. While subtle changes in chemistry around CFT-743 had negligible impact on vitro potency, the effect on therapeutic index was significant. In vitro, CFT-743 is more potent than a BET inhibitor (AZD5153) and a CDK9 inhibitor (dinaciclib) in 100% and 97% of 38 leukemia lines tested. In mice bearing HL60 tumors, CFT-743 has similar efficacy as dinaciclib (81% regression versus 99% tumor growth inhibition (TGI)). Pre-dosing mice with the CRBN binding molecule pomalidomide significantly attenuates CFT-743 activity (TGI 40%) rendering the observed efficacy on par with BET inhibitor CPI-203 (TGI 2%) and thus confirming superior efficacy is dependent on BET degradation. In Kasumi1 and THP1 tumor models, CFT-743 efficacy is more like CPI-203 (regressions in Kasumi1 and strong TGI/moderate regressions in THP1) than dinaciclib (moderate regression and 0% TGI). In RS4;11 tumors CFT-743 promotes complete regression whereas dinaciclib and CPI-203 display modest efficacy (80% and 58% TGI). Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies in mice bearing MV4;11 tumors demonstrate that a high initial plasma exposure of CFT-743 followed by fast compound clearance is sufficient to drive rapid loss of BRD4 in tumors ( Collectively, these data highlight the in vivo features important for efficacy and tolerability with BET degraders and establish the relationships between degrader pharmacokinetics, target protein degradation and efficacy. Citation Format: Brendon Ladd, David Cocozziello, Mark E. Fitzgerald, Ryan E. Michael, Ellen F. Vieux, Linda Lee, Marta Issa, Jacob D. Feala, Roman V. Agafonov, Eun Sun Park, Christopher G. Nasveschuk, David A. Proia. In vivo profiling of BET degraders establishes optimal pharmacological properties that showcase distinct biological differences from BET inhibitors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 1949.

Mapping the stability distributions of proteins in their native folded states provides a critical link between structure, thermodynamics, and function. Linear repeat proteins have proven more amenable to this kind of mapping than globular proteins. C-terminal deletion studies of YopM, a large, linear leucine-rich repeat (LRR) protein, show that stability is distributed quite heterogeneously, yet a high level of cooperativity is maintained [1]. Key components of this distribution are three interfaces that strongly stabilize adjacent sequences, thereby maintaining structural integrity and promoting cooperativity. To better understand the distribution of interaction energy around these critical interfaces, we studied internal (rather than terminal) deletions of three LRRs in this region, including one of these stabilizing interfaces. Contrary to our expectation that deletion of structured repeats should be destabilizing, we find that internal deletion of folded repeats can actually stabilize the native state, suggesting that these repeats are destabilizing, although paradoxically, they are folded in the native state. We identified two residues within this destabilizing segment that deviate from the consensus sequence at a position that normally forms a stacked leucine ladder in the hydrophobic core. Replacement of these nonconsensus residues with leucine is stabilizing. This stability enhancement can be reproduced in the context of nonnative interfaces, but it requires an extended hydrophobic core. Our results demonstrate that different LRRs vary widely in their contribution to stability, and that this variation is context-dependent. These two factors are likely to determine the types of rearrangements that lead to folded, functional proteins, and in turn, are likely to restrict the pathways available for the evolution of linear repeat proteins.

Lon is an ATPase associated with cellular activities (AAA+) protease that controls cell division in response to stress and also degrades misfolded and damaged proteins. Subunits of Lon are known to assemble into ring-shaped homohexamers that enclose an internal degradation chamber. Here, we demonstrate that hexamers of Escherichia coli Lon also interact to form a dodecamer at physiological protein concentrations. Electron microscopy of this dodecamer reveals a prolate structure with the protease chambers at the distal ends and a matrix of N domains forming an equatorial hexamer–hexamer interface, with portals of ∼45 A providing access to the enzyme lumen. Compared with hexamers, Lon dodecamers are much less active in degrading large substrates but equally active in degrading small substrates. Our results support a unique gating mechanism that allows the repertoire of Lon substrates to be tuned by its assembly state.