Peptide-to-Small Molecule: A Pharmacophore-Guided Small Molecule Lead Generation Strategy from High-Affinity Macrocyclic Peptides
Shuhei Yoshida, Shota Uehara, Noriyasu Kondo, Yu Takahashi, Shiho Yamamoto, Atsushi Kameda, Soichiro Kawagoe, Naoko Inoue, Masami Yamada, Norito Yoshimura, Yuki Tachibana
Abstract
Recent technological innovations have led to the development of methods for the rapid identification of high-affinity macrocyclic peptides for a wide range of targets; however, it is still challenging to achieve the desired activity and membrane permeability at the same time. Here, we propose a novel small molecule lead discovery strategy, ″Peptide-to-Small Molecule″, which is a combination of rapid identification of high-affinity macrocyclic peptides via peptide display screening followed by pharmacophore-guided de novo design of small molecules, and demonstrate the applicability using nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) as a target. Affinity selection by peptide display technology identified macrocyclic peptide 1 that exhibited good enzymatic inhibitory activity but no cell-based activity. Thereafter, a peptide pharmacophore-guided de novo design and further structure-based optimization resulted in highly potent and cell-active small molecule 14 (cell-free IC50 = 0.0011 μM, cell-based IC50 = 0.40 μM), indicating that this strategy could be a new option for drug discovery.