The Chaperoning Activity of Amino-oxyacetic Acid on Folding-Defective Variants of Human Alanine:Glyoxylate Aminotransferase Causing Primary Hyperoxaluria Type I

ACS Chem Biol. 2015 Oct 16;10(10):2227-36. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.5b00480. Epub 2015 Jul 27.

Abstract

The rare disease Primary Hyperoxaluria Type I (PH1) results from the deficit of liver peroxisomal alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase (AGT), as a consequence of inherited mutations on the AGXT gene frequently leading to protein misfolding. Pharmacological chaperone (PC) therapy is a newly developed approach for misfolding diseases based on the use of small molecule ligands able to promote the correct folding of a mutant enzyme. In this report, we describe the interaction of amino-oxyacetic acid (AOA) with the recombinant purified form of two polymorphic species of AGT, AGT-Ma and AGT-Mi, and with three pathogenic variants bearing previously identified folding defects: G41R-Ma, G170R-Mi, and I244T-Mi. We found that for all these enzyme AOA (i) forms an oxime at the active site, (ii) behaves as a slow, tight-binding inhibitor with KI values in the nanomolar range, and (iii) increases the thermal stability. Furthermore, experiments performed in mammalian cells revealed that AOA acts as a PC by partly preventing the intracellular aggregation of G41R-Ma and by promoting the correct peroxisomal import of G170R-Mi and I244T-Mi. Based on these data, we carried out a small-scale screening campaign. We identified four AOA analogues acting as AGT inhibitors, even if only one was found to act as a PC. The possible relationship between the structure and the PC activity of these compounds is discussed. Altogether, these results provide the proof-of-principle for the feasibility of a therapy with PCs for PH1-causing variants bearing folding defects and provide the scaffold for the identification of more specific ligands.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alanine / genetics*
  • Aminooxyacetic Acid / chemistry*
  • Aminooxyacetic Acid / metabolism*
  • Aminooxyacetic Acid / pharmacology
  • Blotting, Western
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Genetic Variation
  • Humans
  • Hyperoxaluria, Primary / enzymology*
  • Hyperoxaluria, Primary / genetics*
  • Molecular Chaperones / metabolism
  • Protein Folding / drug effects
  • Protein Stability
  • Transaminases / genetics
  • Transaminases / metabolism*

Substances

  • Molecular Chaperones
  • Aminooxyacetic Acid
  • Transaminases
  • glyoxylate aminotransferase
  • Alanine

Supplementary concepts

  • Primary hyperoxaluria type 1