The targeted delivery of bioactive proteins, such as cytokines, for cancer immunotherapy approaches mostly relies on antibodies or antibody fragments. However, fusion proteins may display low tissue penetration due to a large molecular size. Small molecule ligands with high affinity toward tumor-associated antigens provide a promising alternative for the selective delivery of cytokines to tumor lesions. We developed a one-pot procedure for the site-specific thiazolidine formation between an aldehyde bearing small molecule and the generated N-terminal cysteine of a bioactive protein. Thereby, neoleukin-2/15 (Neo-2/15), a computationally engineered interleukin-2 and -15 mimic, was chemically conjugated to acetazolamide plus, a potent carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) ligand. The conjugate retained the biological activity of Neo-2/15 and revealed its ability to accumulate in renal cell carcinoma (SK-RC-52) xenografts upon systemic intravenous administration. The results highlight the potential of small molecule targeting moieties to drive the accumulation of a protein cargo to the respective disease site while conserving the small construct size.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.3c00194 | DOI Listing |
J Colloid Interface Sci
January 2025
Chemical Engineering College, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Aimin street 49 Xincheng District, Hohhot 010051 PR China; Inner Mongolia Engineering Research Center for CO2 Capture and Utilization, Aimin street 49, Xincheng District, Hohhot 010051 PR China; Key Laboratory of CO2 Resource Utilization at Universities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Aimin street 49 Xincheng District, Hohhot 010051 PR China. Electronic address:
Ligand engineering has proven to be an effective strategy for tuning and controlling the microenvironment of coordinated metal centers, highlighting the critical bridge between the activity and structural features of catalysts during electrocatalytic CO reduction reactions (eCORR). However, the limited availability of diverse organic ligands has hindered the development of novel high-performing electrocatalysts. In contrast, small organic molecules have been widely used in the fabrication of metal complexes due to their well-defined functionalities, low cost, and easy accessibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer
January 2025
Kunming University of Science and Technology, Medical School, Kunming 650500, China.
SUMOylation is a protein modification process that involves the covalent attachment of a small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) to a specific lysine residue on the target protein. This modification can influence the function, localization, stability, and interactions of proteins, thereby regulating various cellular processes. Altering the SUMOylation of certain proteins is expected to be a potential approach for treating specific cancers and diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Biol Med
January 2025
Drug Design and Discovery Lab, Helmy Institute of Medical Sciences, Zewail City of Science, Technology and Innovation, Giza, 12578, Egypt; Biomedical Sciences Program, University of Science and Technology, Zewail City of Science, Technology and Innovation, Giza, 12578, Egypt. Electronic address:
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is amongst the earliest targeted kinases by small-molecule inhibitors for the management of EGFR-positive cancer types. While a few inhibitors are granted FDA approval for clinical use, discovery of new inhibitors is still of merit to enhance ligand-binding stability and subsequent enzyme inhibition. Thus, a structure-based design approach was adopted to devise a new series of twenty-nine N3-substituted quinazolin-4-ones as type I ATP-competitive inhibitors targeting the deep hydrophobic pocket of EGFR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTalanta
January 2025
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Analytical Science for Food Safety and Biology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food Safety, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350108, China. Electronic address:
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) has become a robust tool for analyzing a variety of biomacromolecules. However, the strong background interference produced by conventional organic matrices hinders the detection of small molecule analytes, which restricts the widespread application of MALDI-MS in metabolomics studies. Consequently, developing new organic matrices is urgently needed to overcome these issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiosens Bioelectron
December 2024
National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems, I-80131, Naples, Italy. Electronic address:
Spectrochemical analysis of trace elements in complex matrices is crucial across various fields of science, industry, and technology. However, this analysis is often hindered by background interference and the challenge of detecting ultralow analyte concentrations. Surface Enhanced Infrared Absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy is emerging as a viable technique to address these challenges as it can successfully reveal soluble and unmodified analytes in a label-free manner through their interactions with a bioreceptor following site-specific labeling with small infrared-active probes.
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