Browsing by Subject "Molecular Probes"

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    Discovery of a Small Molecule Probe That Post-Translationally Stabilizes the Survival Motor Neuron Protein for the Treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy
    (ACS Publications, 2017-06-08) Rietz, Anne; Li, Hongxia; Quist, Kevin M.; Cherry, Jonathan J.; Lorson, Christian L.; Burnett, Barrington; Kern, Nicholas L.; Calder, Alyssa N.; Fritsche, Melanie; Lusic, Hrvoje; Boaler, Patrick J.; Choi, Sungwoon; Xing, Xuechao; Glicksman, Marcie A.; Cuny, Gregory D.; Androphy, Elliot J.; Hodgetts, Kevin J.; Dermatology, School of Medicine
    Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the leading genetic cause of infant death. We previously developed a high-throughput assay that employs an SMN2-luciferase reporter allowing identification of compounds that act transcriptionally, enhance exon recognition, or stabilize the SMN protein. We describe optimization and characterization of an analog suitable for in vivo testing. Initially, we identified analog 4m that had good in vitro properties but low plasma and brain exposure in a mouse PK experiment due to short plasma stability; this was overcome by reversing the amide bond and changing the heterocycle. Thiazole 27 showed excellent in vitro properties and a promising mouse PK profile, making it suitable for in vivo testing. This series post-translationally stabilizes the SMN protein, unrelated to global proteasome or autophagy inhibition, revealing a novel therapeutic mechanism that should complement other modalities for treatment of SMA.
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    Modular synthesis of biologically active phosphatidic acid probes using click chemistry
    (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2009-09) Smith, Matthew D.; Sudhahar, Christopher G.; Gong, Denghuang; Stahelin, Robert V.; Best, Michael D.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    Phosphatidic acid (PA) is an important signaling lipid that plays roles in a range of biological processes including both physiological and pathophysiological events. PA is one of a number of signaling lipids that can act as site-specific ligands for protein receptors in binding events that enforce membrane association and generally regulate both receptor function and subcellular localization. However, elucidation of the full scope of PA activities has proven problematic, primarily due to the lack of a consensus sequence among PA-binding receptors. Thus, experimental approaches, such as those employing lipid probes, are necessary for characterizing interactions at the molecular level. Herein, we describe an efficient modular approach to the synthesis of a range of PA probes that employs a late stage introduction of reporter groups. This strategy was exploited in the synthesis of PA probes bearing fluorescent and photoaffinity tags as well as a bifunctional probe containing both a photoaffinity moiety and an azide as a secondary handle for purification purposes. To discern the ability of these PA analogs to mimic the natural lipid in protein-binding properties, each compound was incorporated into vesicles for binding studies using a known PA receptor, the C2 domain of PKCalpha. In these studies, each compound exhibited binding properties that were comparable to those of synthetic PA, indicating their viability as probes for effectively studying the activities of PA in cellular processes.