Exosite inhibition of ADAMTS-5 by a glycoconjugated arylsulfonamide.

Abstract

ADAMTS-5 is a major protease involved in the turnover of proteoglycans such as aggrecan and versican. Dysregulated aggrecanase activity of ADAMTS-5 has been directly linked to the etiology of osteoarthritis (OA). For this reason, ADAMTS-5 is a pharmaceutical target for the treatment of OA. ADAMTS-5 shares high structural and functional similarities with ADAMTS-4, which makes the design of selective inhibitors particularly challenging. Here we exploited the ADAMTS-5 binding capacity of β-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine to design a new class of sugar-based arylsulfonamides. Our most promising compound, 4b, is a non-zinc binding ADAMTS-5 inhibitor which showed high selectivity over ADAMTS-4. Docking calculations combined with molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated that 4b is a cross-domain inhibitor that targets the interface of the metalloproteinase and disintegrin-like domains. Furthermore, the interaction between 4b and the ADAMTS-5 Dis domain is mediated by hydrogen bonds between the sugar moiety and two lysine residues (K532 and K533). Targeted mutagenesis of these two residues confirmed their importance both for versicanase activity and inhibitor binding. This positively-charged cluster of ADAMTS-5 represents a previously unknown substrate-binding site (exosite) which is critical for substrate recognition and can therefore be targeted for the development of selective ADAMTS-5 inhibitors.

• Authors: Salvatore Santamaria, Doretta Cuffaro, Elisa Nuti, Lidia Ciccone, Tiziano Tuccinardi, Francesca Liva, Felicia D'Andrea, Rens de Groot, Armando Rossello, Josefin Ahnström
• Journal: Scientific reports (Sci Rep) Vol. 11 Issue 1 Pg. 949 (01 13 2021) ISSN: 2045-2322 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 33441904 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Aggrecans
• Disintegrins
• Glycoconjugates
• Sulfonamides
• Versicans
• Endopeptidases
• Metalloproteases
• ADAMTS5 Protein
• ADAMTS5 protein, human
• aggrecanase
• Lysine

Topics

• ADAMTS5 Protein (metabolism)
• Aggrecans (metabolism)
• Amino Acid Sequence
• Binding Sites (drug effects)
• Disintegrins (metabolism)
• Endopeptidases (metabolism)
• Glycoconjugates (pharmacology)
• Humans
• Lysine (metabolism)
• Metalloproteases (metabolism)
• Mutagenesis (drug effects)
• Osteoarthritis (drug therapy, metabolism)
• Protein Binding (drug effects)
• Protein Domains (drug effects)
• Sequence Alignment
• Sulfonamides (pharmacology)
• Versicans (metabolism)