학술논문

A novel class of inhibitors that disrupts the stability of integrin heterodimers identified by CRISPR-tiling-instructed genetic screens
Document Type
article
Source
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 31(3)
Subject
Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Biological Sciences
Cancer
Development of treatments and therapeutic interventions
5.1 Pharmaceuticals
Humans
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
Cell Membrane
Chemical Sciences
Medical and Health Sciences
Biophysics
Developmental Biology
Biological sciences
Biomedical and clinical sciences
Chemical sciences
Language
Abstract
The plasma membrane is enriched for receptors and signaling proteins that are accessible from the extracellular space for pharmacological intervention. Here we conducted a series of CRISPR screens using human cell surface proteome and integrin family libraries in multiple cancer models. Our results identified ITGAV (integrin αV) and its heterodimer partner ITGB5 (integrin β5) as the essential integrin α/β pair for cancer cell expansion. High-density CRISPR gene tiling further pinpointed the integral pocket within the β-propeller domain of ITGAV for integrin αVβ5 dimerization. Combined with in silico compound docking, we developed a CRISPR-Tiling-Instructed Computer-Aided (CRISPR-TICA) pipeline for drug discovery and identified Cpd_AV2 as a lead inhibitor targeting the β-propeller central pocket of ITGAV. Cpd_AV2 treatment led to rapid uncoupling of integrin αVβ5 and cellular apoptosis, providing a unique class of therapeutic action that eliminates the integrin signaling via heterodimer dissociation. We also foresee the CRISPR-TICA approach to be an accessible method for future drug discovery studies.