2. Academic Validation
  3. Structural characterization of nonactive site, TrkA-selective kinase inhibitors

Structural characterization of nonactive site, TrkA-selective kinase inhibitors

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Jan 17;114(3):E297-E306. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1611577114.
Hua-Poo Su 1,  Keith Rickert 2,  Christine Burlein 3,  Kartik Narayan 3,  Marina Bukhtiyarova 3,  Danielle M Hurzy 4,  Craig A Stump 4,  Xufang Zhang 4,  John Reid 4,  Alicja Krasowska-Zoladek 5,  Srivanya Tummala 2,  Jennifer M Shipman 2,  Maria Kornienko 2,  Peter A Lemaire 3,  Daniel Krosky 2,  Amanda Heller 3,  Abdelghani Achab 6,  Chad Chamberlin 6,  Peter Saradjian 6,  Berengere Sauvagnat 6,  Xianshu Yang 6,  Michael R Ziebell 6,  Elliott Nickbarg 6,  John M Sanders 4,  Mark T Bilodeau 4,  Steven S Carroll 3,  Kevin J Lumb 2,  Stephen M Soisson 4,  Darrell A Henze 5,  Andrew J Cooke 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Global Chemistry, Merck Research Laboratories (MRL), Merck & Co. Inc., West Point, PA 19486; hua-poo_su@merck.com.
  • 2 Screening & Protein Sciences, MRL, Merck & Co. Inc., West Point, PA 19486.
  • 3 In Vitro Pharmacology, MRL, Merck & Co. Inc., West Point, PA 19486.
  • 4 Global Chemistry, Merck Research Laboratories (MRL), Merck & Co. Inc., West Point, PA 19486.
  • 5 Neuroscience Discovery, MRL, Merck & Co. Inc., West Point, PA 19486.
  • 6 In Vitro Pharmacology, MRL, Merck & Co. Inc., Boston, MA 02115.
PMID: 28039433 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1611577114
Abstract

Current therapies for chronic pain can have insufficient efficacy and lead to side effects, necessitating research of novel targets against pain. Although originally identified as an oncogene, Tropomyosin-related kinase A (TrkA) is linked to pain and elevated levels of NGF (the ligand for TrkA) are associated with chronic pain. Antibodies that block TrkA interaction with its ligand, NGF, are in clinical trials for pain relief. Here, we describe the identification of TrkA-specific inhibitors and the structural basis for their selectivity over Other Trk family kinases. The X-ray structures reveal a binding site outside the kinase active site that uses residues from the kinase domain and the juxtamembrane region. Three modes of binding with the juxtamembrane region are characterized through a series of ligand-bound complexes. The structures indicate a critical pharmacophore on the compounds that leads to the distinct binding modes. The mode of interaction can allow TrkA selectivity over TrkB and TrkC or promiscuous, pan-Trk inhibition. This finding highlights the difficulty in characterizing the structure-activity relationship of a chemical series in the absence of structural information because of substantial differences in the interacting residues. These structures illustrate the flexibility of binding to sequences outside of-but adjacent to-the kinase domain of TrkA. This knowledge allows development of compounds with specificity for TrkA or the family of Trk proteins.

Keywords

TrkA; inhibition; kinase; pain; selectivity.

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