Structure-activity studies of Streptococcus pyogenes enzyme SpyCEP reveal high affinity for CXCL8 in the SpyCEP C-terminal.

The Streptococcus pyogenes cell envelope protease (SpyCEP) is vital to streptococcal pathogenesis and disease progression. Despite its strong association with invasive disease, little is known about enzymatic function beyond the ELR CXC chemokine substrate range. As a serine protease, SpyCEP has a catalytic triad consisting of aspartate (D151), histidine (H279), and serine (S617) residues which are all thought to be mandatory for full activity.

Structure-Guided Design and Synthesis of a Pyridazinone Series of Proteasome Inhibitors.

There is an urgent need for new treatments for Chagas disease, a parasitic infection which mostly impacts South and Central America. We previously reported on the discovery of GSK3494245/DDD01305143, a preclinical candidate for visceral leishmaniasis which acted through inhibition of the proteasome. A related analogue, active against , showed suboptimal efficacy in an animal model of Chagas disease, so alternative proteasome inhibitors were investigated.

Structural basis of DNA gyrase inhibition by antibacterial QPT-1, anticancer drug etoposide and moxifloxacin.

New antibacterials are needed to tackle antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Type IIA topoisomerases (topo2As), the targets of fluoroquinolones, regulate DNA topology by creating transient double-strand DNA breaks. Here we report the first co-crystal structures of the antibacterial QPT-1 and the anticancer drug etoposide with Staphylococcus aureus DNA gyrase, showing binding at the same sites in the cleaved DNA as the fluoroquinolone moxifloxacin.

Crystallization and initial crystallographic analysis of covalent DNA-cleavage complexes of Staphyloccocus aureus DNA gyrase with QPT-1, moxifloxacin and etoposide.

Fluoroquinolone drugs such as moxifloxacin kill bacteria by stabilizing the normally transient double-stranded DNA breaks created by bacterial type IIA topoisomerases. Previous crystal structures of Staphylococcus aureus DNA gyrase with asymmetric DNAs have had static disorder (with the DNA duplex observed in two orientations related by the pseudo-twofold axis of the complex). Here, 20-base-pair DNA homoduplexes were used to obtain crystals of covalent DNA-cleavage complexes of S.

Over expression of wild type or a catalytically dead mutant of Sirtuin 6 does not influence NFκB responses.

SIRT6 is involved in inflammation, aging and metabolism potentially by modulating the functions of both NFκB and HIF1α. Since it is possible to make small molecule activators and inhibitors of Sirtuins we wished to establish biochemical and cellular assays both to assist in drug discovery efforts and to validate whether SIRT6 represents a valid drug target for these indications. We confirmed in cellular assays that SIRT6 can deacetylate acetylated-histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9Ac), however this deacetylase activity is unusually low in biochemical assays.