Structure-guided design and optimization of covalent VHL-targeted sulfonyl fluoride PROTACs

Abstract

O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=110 SRC="FIGDIR/small/545773v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (17K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@da22e5org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1290278org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1611c0eorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@7902d2_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG Proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) are heterobifunctional molecules that have emerged as a therapeutic modality to induce targeted protein degradation (TPD) by harnessing cellular proteolytic degradation machinery. PROTACs which ligand the E3 ligase in a covalent manner have attracted intense interest, however, covalent PROTACs with a broad protein of interest (POI) scope have proven challenging to discover by design. Here, we report structure-guided design and optimization of Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) protein-targeted sulfonyl fluorides which covalently bind Ser110 in the HIF1 binding site. We demonstrate that their incorporation in bifunctional degraders induces targeted protein degradation of BRD4 or androgen receptor (AR) without further linker optimization. Our study discloses the first covalent VHL ligands which can be implemented directly in bifunctional degrader design expanding the substrate scope of covalent E3 ligase PROTACs.