Biomedical subjects

Johan Schultz

Publications and source records attributed to Johan Schultz.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Mechanism of action of pyridazine analogues on protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B).

The inhibitory effect on PTP1B caused by the addition of pyridazine analogues has been investigated. Biophysical techniques, that is, mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) were used for the characterization. Pyridazine analogues cause catalytic oxidation of the reducing agent, generating hydrogen peroxide that oxidizes the active site cysteine on the enzyme, leading to enzyme inactivation. Two additional compound classes show the same effect. We found one common structural feature in these molecules that allows the reaction with triplet molecular oxygen to be less endothermic. A proposed mechanism for the catalytic redox cycle is described.

Catalysis↗

PubMed2002

Structure-based screening as applied to human FABP4: a highly efficient alternative to HTS for hit generation.

The time-limiting step in HTS often is the development of an appropriate assay. In addition, hits from HTS fairly often turn out to be false positives and generally display unfavorable properties for further development. Here we describe an alternative process for hit generation, applied to the human adipocyte fatty acid binding protein FABP4. A small molecular ligand for FABP4 that blocks the binding of endogenous ligands may be developed into a drug for the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Using NMR spectroscopy, we screened FABP4 for low-affinity binders in a diversity library consisting of small soluble scaffolds, which yielded 52 initial hits in total. The potencies of these hits were ranked, and crystal structures of FABP4 complexes for two of the hits were obtained. The structural data were subsequently used to direct similarity searches for available analogues, as well as chemical synthesis of 12 novel analogues. In this way, a series of three selective FABP4 ligands with attractive pharmacochemical profiles and potencies of 10 microM or better was obtained.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Structure-based screening and design in drug discovery.

Structure-based screening represents an integrated approach for the identification and optimization of hits by the combined use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, homology modeling and X-ray crystallography. A general feature of the methodology is the introduction of structure-based methods (NMR, modeling and X-ray) early in the drug discovery process to optimize hits in terms of their affinities and specificities. This approach promises to deliver leads with improved physicochemical properties as compared with leads generated from a traditional HTS program. This review presents examples of structure-based screening from published and in-house drug discovery projects.

Crystallography, X-Ray↗

PubMed2002

Site-selective screening by NMR spectroscopy with labeled amino acid pairs.

A new method for site-selective screening by NMR is presented. The core of the new method is the dual amino acid sequence specific labeling technique. Amino acid X is labeled with (13)C and amino acid Y is labeled with (15)N. Provided only one XY pair occurs in the amino acid sequence, only one signal in the 1D carbonyl (13)C spectrum will display a splitting due to the (1)J(C'N) coupling. Using this labeling strategy it is possible to screen selectively for binding to a selected epitope without the need for sequence specific assignments. An HNCO spectrum (1D or 2D) can be used either directly as a screening experiment or indirectly to identify what signals to monitor in a 2D (1)H-(15)N correlation spectrum. Chemical shift perturbations upon addition of a potential ligand are easily detected even for large proteins due to the reduced spectral complexity resulting from the use of a selectively labeled sample. The new technique is demonstrated on the human adipocyte fatty acid binding protein FABP-4. Due to the reduced spectral complexity, the method should be applicable to larger proteins than are conventional methods.

Amino Acids↗

PubMed2002

Site-selective labeling strategies for screening by NMR.

NMR based screening has become an important tool in the pharmaceutical industry. Methods that provide information on the location of small molecule binding sites on the surface of a drug target (e. g. SAR-by-NMR and related techniques) are of particular interest. In order to extend the applicability of such techniques to drug targets of higher molecular weight, selective labeling strategies may be employed. Dual-amino acid selective labeling and site directed non-native amino acid replacement (SNAAR) allow for the selective detection of NMR resonances of a specific amino acid residue. This results in significantly reduced spectral complexity, which not only enables application to higher molecular weight systems, but also eliminates the need for sequential resonance assignment in order to identify the binding site. Regio-selective (or segmental) labeling of an entire protein domain of a multi domain protein may also be achieved. Labeling only a selected part of a multi domain protein (e. g. a catalytic or ligand binding domain) is an attractive way to simplify the spectral interpretation without disturbing the system under study.

Amino Acid Sequence↗