Discovery of New Binders for DCAF1, an Emerging Ligase Target in the Targeted Protein Degradation Field
Anna Vulpetti, Philipp Holzer, Niko Schmiedeberg, Patricia Imbach‐Weese, Carole Pissot‐Soldermann, Gregory J. Hollingworth, Thomas Radimerski, Claudio R. Thoma, Therese‐Marie Stachyra, Matthias Wojtynek, Magdalena Maschlej, Suzanne Chau, Ansgar Schuffenhauer, César Fernández Fernández, Martin Schröder, Martin Renatus
Abstract
In this study, we describe the rapid identification of potent binders for the WD40 repeat domain (WDR) of DCAF1. This was achieved by two rounds of iterative focused screening of a small set of compounds selected on the basis of internal WDR domain knowledge followed by hit expansion. Subsequent structure-based design led to nanomolar potency binders with a clear exit vector enabling DCAF1-based bifunctional degrader exploration.