Deregulation of the ubiquitin/proteasome system has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many human diseases, including cancer. Ubiquitin-specific proteases (USP) are cysteine proteases involved in the deubiquitination of protein substrates. Functional connections between USP7 and essential viral proteins and oncogenic pathways, such as the p53/Mdm2 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B networks, strongly suggest that the targeting of USP7 with small-molecule inhibitors may be useful for the treatment of cancers and viral diseases. Using high-throughput screening, we have discovered HBX 41,108, a small-molecule compound that inhibits USP7 deubiquitinating activity with an IC 50 in the submicromolar range. Kinetics data indicate an uncompetitive reversible inhibition mechanism. HBX 41,108 was shown to affect USP7-mediated p53 deubiquitination in vitro and in cells. As RNA interference-mediated USP7 silencing in cancer cells, HBX 41,108 treatment stabilized p53, activated the transcription of a p53 target gene without inducing genotoxic stress, and inhibited cancer cell growth. Finally, HBX 41,108 induced p53-dependent apoptosis as shown in p53 wild-type and null isogenic cancer cell lines. We thus report the identification of the first lead-like inhibitor against USP7, providing a structural basis for the development of new anticancer drugs.

The concept of organized networks has emerged in the field of cellular signaling in the last few years. Assembling the different partners in close proximity optimizes the spatial and temporal organization and the specificity of the cellular response. The assembly of these multimolecular complexes occurs through the interaction of modular domains recognizing their target counterparts. PDZ domains are widely spread modules exhibiting this function. Data bank exploration with SMART (1) identifies 584 PDZ domains in 328 different proteins in the human genome.G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) 5 constitute the largest family of membrane receptors, and many of the more than 750 members have been shown to interact with PDZ domain-containing proteins, either constitutively or upon agonist activation (2). Binding of PDZ proteins to GPCRs has been reported to primarily regulate subcellular localization, trafficking, and stability of receptors (3). For instance, binding of MUPP1 and syntrophins to the ␥-aminobutyric acid type B (GABA B ) receptor and the ␣ 1D -adrenergic receptor, respectively, significantly increases receptor stability (4, 5). In other cases, PDZ scaffolds determine the subcellular localization of GPCRs (6) and receptor endocytosis as shown for PSD-95 and the 5-HT 2A serotonin and ␤ 1 -adrenergic receptors (7,8). PDZ proteins, such as NHERF and hScrib, are also important for the recycling of receptors to the cell surface (9 -11).Binding of PDZ proteins to GPCRs also modulates receptor signaling by assembling proteins involved in signal transduction. NHERF family proteins are known to regulate the activity of the Na ϩ /H ϩ exchanger through association with NHERF-1 (12) and to form a ternary complex with phospholipase C␤3 and GPCRs, which enhances the signaling efficiency of the receptor-mediated activation of the phospholipase C␤/Ca 2ϩ pathway (13-15). Binding of GIPC (GAIP-interacting protein, COOH terminus) to the COOH terminus of the D3 dopamine and the ␤ 1 -adrenergic receptor (16) decreased G␣ i -mediated signaling of these receptors most likely through RGS19, which binds to GIPC (17). Further examples of PDZ scaffolds that regulate GPCR signaling include a ternary complex formation around the PDZ scaffold MAGI-3, which binds to the GPCR frizzled-4 and Ltap to regulate the JNK signaling cascade (18), as well as PDZ-domain-containing Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factors that interact with lysophosphatidic acid 1 and 2 receptors to activate RhoA (19).