GLUT3 inhibitor discovery through in silico ligand screening and in vivo validation in eukaryotic expression systems

• Published in: Scientific reports 2022-01, Vol.12 (1), p.1429-1429, Article 1429
• Main Authors: Iancu, Cristina V., Bocci, Giovanni, Ishtikhar, Mohd, Khamrai, Moumita, Oreb, Mislav, Oprea, Tudor I., Choe, Jun-yong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/154/1435/2418; 631/1647/2196; 631/45/612/1237; 631/45/72/1201; Binding Sites; Biological Transport - drug effects; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Survival - drug effects; Clinical Medicine; Drug Discovery; Glucose; Glucose transport; Glucose transporter; Glucose Transporter Type 1 - antagonists & inhibitors; Glucose Transporter Type 1 - chemistry; Glucose Transporter Type 1 - genetics; Glucose Transporter Type 1 - metabolism; Glucose Transporter Type 2 - antagonists & inhibitors; Glucose Transporter Type 2 - chemistry; Glucose Transporter Type 2 - genetics; Glucose Transporter Type 2 - metabolism; Glucose Transporter Type 3 - antagonists & inhibitors; Glucose Transporter Type 3 - chemistry; Glucose Transporter Type 3 - genetics; Glucose Transporter Type 3 - metabolism; Glucose Transporter Type 4 - antagonists & inhibitors; Glucose Transporter Type 4 - chemistry; Glucose Transporter Type 4 - genetics; Glucose Transporter Type 4 - metabolism; Glucose transporter type 5; Glucose Transporter Type 5 - antagonists & inhibitors; Glucose Transporter Type 5 - chemistry; Glucose Transporter Type 5 - genetics; Glucose Transporter Type 5 - metabolism; Heterocyclic Compounds, 3-Ring - chemistry; Heterocyclic Compounds, 3-Ring - pharmacology; Hexose; Hexose transporter; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Inhibitors; Klinisk medicin; Ligands; Models, Molecular; multidisciplinary; Multiple myeloma; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neurodegenerative diseases; Protein Binding; Protein Conformation, alpha-Helical; Protein Conformation, beta-Strand; Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - drug effects; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - chemistry; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - genetics; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Small Molecule Libraries - chemistry; Small Molecule Libraries - pharmacology; Yeasts
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05383-9

The passive transport of glucose and related hexoses in human cells is facilitated by members of the glucose transporter family (GLUT, SLC2 gene family). GLUT3 is a high-affinity glucose transporter primarily responsible for glucose entry in neurons. Changes in its expression have been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. GLUT3 inhibitors can provide new ways to probe the pathophysiological role of GLUT3 and tackle GLUT3-dependent cancers. Through in silico screening of an ~ 8 million compounds library against the inward- and outward-facing models of GLUT3, we selected ~ 200 ligand candidates. These were tested for in vivo inhibition of GLUT3 expressed in hexose transporter-deficient yeast cells, resulting in six new GLUT3 inhibitors. Examining their specificity for GLUT1-5 revealed that the most potent GLUT3 inhibitor (G3iA, IC 50  ~ 7 µM) was most selective for GLUT3, inhibiting less strongly only GLUT2 (IC 50  ~ 29 µM). None of the GLUT3 inhibitors affected GLUT5, three inhibited GLUT1 with equal or twofold lower potency, and four showed comparable or two- to fivefold better inhibition of GLUT4. G3iD was a pan-Class 1 GLUT inhibitor with the highest preference for GLUT4 (IC 50  ~ 3.9 µM). Given the prevalence of GLUT1 and GLUT3 overexpression in many cancers and multiple myeloma’s reliance on GLUT4, these GLUT3 inhibitors may discriminately hinder glucose entry into various cancer cells, promising novel therapeutic avenues in oncology.