Discovery of a Novel Inhibitor of the Hedgehog Signaling Pathway through Cell-based Compound Discovery and Target Prediction

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Lea Kremer - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund University of Technology (Author)
  • Carsten Schultz-Fademrecht - , Lead Discovery Center GmbH (Author)
  • Matthias Baumann - , Lead Discovery Center GmbH (Author)
  • Peter Habenberger - , Lead Discovery Center GmbH (Author)
  • Axel Choidas - , Lead Discovery Center GmbH (Author)
  • Bert Klebl - , Max Planck Innovation GmbH (Author)
  • Susanne Kordes - , Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Lead Discovery Center GmbH (Author)
  • Hans R. Schöler - , Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine (Author)
  • Jared Sterneckert - , iPS Cells and Neurodegenerative Disease (Junior Research Group) (Author)
  • Slava Ziegler - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology (Author)
  • Gisbert Schneider - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Herbert Waldmann - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund University of Technology (Author)

Abstract

Cell-based assays enable monitoring of small-molecule bioactivity in a target-agnostic manner and help uncover new biological mechanisms. Subsequent identification and validation of the small-molecule targets, typically employing proteomics techniques, is very challenging and limited, in particular if the targets are membrane proteins. Herein, we demonstrate that the combination of cell-based bioactive-compound discovery with cheminformatic target prediction may provide an efficient approach to accelerate the process and render target identification and validation more efficient. Using a cell-based assay, we identified the pyrazolo-imidazole smoothib as a new inhibitor of hedgehog (Hh) signaling and an antagonist of the protein smoothened (SMO) with a novel chemotype. Smoothib targets the heptahelical bundle of SMO, prevents its ciliary localization, reduces the expression of Hh target genes, and suppresses the growth of Ptch+/− medulloblastoma cells.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13021-13025
Number of pages5
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume56
Issue number42
Publication statusPublished - 9 Oct 2017
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 28833911
ORCID /0000-0002-7688-3124/work/142250036

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • chemoinformatics, hedgehog signaling, inhibitors, target identification, target prediction

Library keywords