Bispecific Aptamer Induced Artificial Protein-Pairing: A Strategy for Selective Inhibition of Receptor Function

J Am Chem Soc. 2019 Aug 14;141(32):12673-12681. doi: 10.1021/jacs.9b05123. Epub 2019 Aug 5.

Abstract

Cell surface receptors play a critical role in modulating intracellular signal transduction, making them important drug targets. However, it remains challenging to develop a selective and efficient strategy for regulating receptor function. Herein, we develop a strategy, called bispecific aptamer induced artificial protein-pairing, to selectively regulate receptor function. In this strategy, bispecific aptamer probes act as molecular mediators to bind to both a target receptor protein and a paired protein, which brings the two proteins into close proximity on the living cell membrane. Importantly, the paired proteins work not only as a cancer biomarker for enhancing cell selectivity but also as a blocking assistant to inhibit target receptor function via strong steric hindrance effect. Compared with single-aptamer-mediated regulation, the proposed bispecific aptamer probes afford substantial improvement in selective and efficient regulation of receptor function and downstream signaling pathways. This work offers a versatile methodology to design molecular mediators that can modulate receptor function, thereby providing a new way for developing novel therapeutic drugs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Video-Audio Media

MeSH terms

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide / metabolism*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Membrane / metabolism
  • Cell Movement / drug effects
  • Diffusion
  • Hepatocyte Growth Factor / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / metabolism*
  • Receptors, Transferrin / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects

Substances

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Receptors, Transferrin
  • Hepatocyte Growth Factor
  • MET protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met