Modeling MEK4 Kinase Inhibitors through Perturbed Electrostatic Potential Charges

J Chem Inf Model. 2019 Oct 28;59(10):4460-4466. doi: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00490. Epub 2019 Oct 14.

Abstract

MEK4, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4, is overexpressed and induces metastasis in advanced prostate cancer lesions. However, the value of MEK4 as an oncology target has not been pharmacologically validated because selective chemical probes targeting MEK4 have not been developed. With advances in both computer and biological high-throughput screening, selective chemical entities can be discovered. Structure-based quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling often fails to generate accurate models due to poor alignment of training sets containing highly diverse compounds. Here we describe a highly predictive, nonalignment based robust QSAR model based on a data set of strikingly diverse MEK4 inhibitors. We computed the electrostatic potential (ESP) charges using a density functional theory (DFT) formalism of the donor and acceptor atoms of the ligands and hinge residues. Novel descriptors were then generated from the perturbation of the charge densities of the donor and acceptor atoms and were used to model a diverse set of 84 compounds, from which we built a robust predictive model.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • MAP Kinase Kinase 4 / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Structure
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / chemistry*
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Small Molecule Libraries

Substances

  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • Small Molecule Libraries
  • MAP Kinase Kinase 4
  • MAP2K4 protein, human