Discovery of novel checkpoint kinase 1 inhibitors by virtual screening based on multiple crystal structures

J Chem Inf Model. 2011 Nov 28;51(11):2904-14. doi: 10.1021/ci200257b. Epub 2011 Oct 12.

Abstract

Incorporating receptor flexibility is considered crucial for improvement of docking-based virtual screening. With an abundance of crystallographic structures freely available, docking with multiple crystal structures is believed to be a practical approach to cope with protein flexibility. Here we describe a successful application of the docking of multiple structures to discover novel and potent Chk1 inhibitors. Forty-six Chk1 structures were first compared in single structure docking by predicting the binding mode and recovering known ligands. Combinations of different protein structures were then compared by recovery of known ligands and an optimal ensemble of Chk1 structures were selected. The chosen structures were used in the virtual screening of over 60 000 diverse compounds for Chk1 inhibitors. Six novel compounds ranked at the top of the hits list were tested experimentally, and two of these compounds inhibited Chk1 activity-the best with an IC(50) value of 9.6 μM. Further study indicated that achieving a better enrichment and identifying more diverse compounds was more likely using multiple structures than using only a single structure even when protein structures were randomly selected. Taking into account conformational energy difference did not help to improve enrichment in the top ranked list.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Triphosphate / chemistry
  • Adenosine Triphosphate / metabolism*
  • Algorithms
  • Binding Sites
  • Checkpoint Kinase 1
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Databases, Protein
  • Drug Design
  • Drug Discovery / methods*
  • Humans
  • Inhibitory Concentration 50
  • Ligands
  • Models, Molecular
  • Protein Binding / drug effects
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / chemistry
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / metabolism*
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Protein Kinases / chemistry*
  • Protein Kinases / metabolism
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Thermodynamics
  • User-Computer Interface*

Substances

  • Ligands
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • Adenosine Triphosphate
  • Protein Kinases
  • CHEK1 protein, human
  • Checkpoint Kinase 1