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Keywords
Abstract

The bromodomain adjacent to zinc finger domain protein 2A (BAZ2A) is implicated in aggressive prostate cancer. The BAZ2A bromodomain is a challenging target because of the shallow pocket of its natural ligand, the acetylated side chain of lysine. Here, we report the successful screening of a library of nearly 1500 small molecules by high-throughput docking and force field-based binding-energy evaluation. For seven of the 20 molecules selected in silico, evidence of binding to the BAZ2A bromodomain is provided by ligand-observed NMR spectroscopy. Two of these compounds show a favorable ligand efficiency of 0.42 kcal/mol per non-hydrogen atom in a competition-binding assay. The crystal structures of the BAZ2A bromodomain in complex with four fragment hits validate the predicted binding modes. The binding modes of compounds 1 and 3 are compatible with ligand growing for optimization of affinity for BAZ2A and selectivity against the close homologue BAZ2B.

Year of Publication
2017
Journal
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Volume
139
Start Page
564
Number of Pages
564-572
Date Published
2017 Oct 20
Type of Article
Research Article
ISSN Number
1768-3254
DOI
10.1016/j.ejmech.2017.08.028
Alternate Journal
Eur. J. Med. Chem.
PMID
28837921
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