Peptide-to-Small Molecule: A Pharmacophore-Guided Small Molecule Lead Generation Strategy from High-Affinity Macrocyclic Peptides

• Published in: Journal of medicinal chemistry 2022-08, Vol.65 (15), p.10655-10673
• Main Authors: Yoshida, Shuhei, Uehara, Shota, Kondo, Noriyasu, Takahashi, Yu, Yamamoto, Shiho, Kameda, Atsushi, Kawagoe, Soichiro, Inoue, Naoko, Yamada, Masami, Yoshimura, Norito, Tachibana, Yuki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-2623; 1520-4804
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00919

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.