Rational Design of Bioorthogonally Activatable PROTAC for Tumor-Targeted Protein Degradation

J Med Chem. 2023 Nov 9;66(21):14843-14852. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c01423. Epub 2023 Oct 23.

Abstract

Protein degradation mediated by the proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) has emerged as an efficient strategy to accurately control intracellular protein levels. However, the development of PROTACs is limited by their systemic toxicity. Herein, we report a bioorthogonally activatable prodrug (BT-PROTAC) strategy to accurately control the activity of PROTACs. As a proof of concept, we introduced the highly reactive trans-cyclooctene into PROTAC molecule MZ1, the structure-acitivity relationships of which were well characterized previously, to construct the bioorthogonally activatable prodrug BT-PROTAC. Compared with MZ1, BT-PROTAC is incapable of degradation of BRD4 protein. However, BT-PROTAC can be activated by highly active tetrazine compound BODIPY-TZ in vitro. Furthermore, we could selectively degrade BRD4 protein in tumor tissue enabled by tumor-targeted tetrazine compound IR808-TZ. This strategy may represent an alternative to existing strategies and may be widely applied in the design of BT-PROTAC targeting other proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Humans
  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Prodrugs* / pharmacology
  • Proteolysis
  • Proteolysis Targeting Chimera
  • Transcription Factors

Substances

  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Prodrugs
  • Transcription Factors
  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • Proteolysis Targeting Chimera
  • BRD4 protein, human
  • Cell Cycle Proteins