High-Throughput Dual Screening Method for Ras Activities and Inhibitors

Anal Chem. 2017 Apr 18;89(8):4508-4516. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04904. Epub 2017 Mar 29.

Abstract

Ras GTPases act as "molecular switches", alternating between inactive GDP-bound and active GTP-bound conformation. Ras-oncogenes were discovered over three decades ago, but there are still no effective therapies for Ras-driven cancers. So far, drug discovery strategies have been unsuccessful, because of a lack of suitable screening methodologies and well-defined binding pockets on the Ras proteins. Here, we addressed the former by introducing a homogeneous quenching resonance energy transfer (QRET) technique-based screening strategy for Ras interfacial and competitive inhibitors. We demonstrate that using a unique GTP-specific antibody fragment to monitor GTPase cycling in the presence of a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) and a GTPase activating protein (GAP) is an efficient method for Ras inhibitor high-throughput screening. When compared to a conventional GEF-stimulated nucleotide exchange assay in a proof-of-concept screen, we identified an overlapping set of potential inhibitor compounds but also compounds found exclusively with the new GTP hydrolysis monitoring-based GTPase cycling assay.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Binding Sites
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Coordination Complexes / chemistry
  • Europium / chemistry
  • Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
  • GTPase-Activating Proteins / chemistry
  • GTPase-Activating Proteins / metabolism*
  • Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors / chemistry
  • Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors / metabolism*
  • Guanosine Triphosphate / chemistry
  • Guanosine Triphosphate / metabolism
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Humans
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Protein Binding
  • ras Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • ras Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Coordination Complexes
  • GTPase-Activating Proteins
  • Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors
  • Europium
  • Guanosine Triphosphate
  • ras Proteins