The crystal structure of the complex between the copper amine oxidase from Escherichia coli (ECAO) and a covalently bound inhibitor, 2-hydrazinopyridine, has been determined to a resolution of 2.0 A. The inhibitor covalently binds at the 5 position of the quinone ring of the cofactor, 2,4,5-trihydroxyphenylalaninequinone (TPQ). The inhibitor complex is analogous to the substrate Schiff base formed during the reaction with natural monoamine substrate. A proton is abstracted from a methylene group adjacent to the amine group by a catalytic base during the reaction. The inhibitor, however, has a nitrogen at this position, preventing proton abstraction and trapping the enzyme in a covalent complex. The electron density shows this nitrogen is hydrogen bonded to the side chain of Asp383, a totally conserved residue, identifying it as the probable catalytic base. The positioning of Asp383 is such that the pro-S proton of a substrate would be abstracted, consistent with the stereospecificity of the enzyme determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Site-directed mutagenesis and in vivo suppression have been used to substitute Asp383 for 12 other residues. The resulting proteins either lack or, in the case of glutamic acid, have very low enzyme activity consistent with an essential catalytic role for Asp383. The O4 position on the quinone ring is involved in a short hydrogen bond with the hydroxyl of conserved residue Tyr369. The distance between the oxygens is less than 2.5 A, consistent with a shared proton, and suggesting ionization at the O4 position of the quinone ring. The Tyr369 residue appears to play an important role in stabilizing the position of the quinone/inhibitor complex. The O2 position on the quinone ring is hydrogen bonded to the apical water ligand of the copper. The basal water ligand, which lies 2.0 A from the copper in the native structure, is at a distance of 3.0 A in the complex. In the native structure, the active site is completely buried, with no obvious route for entry of substrate. In the complex, the tip of the pyridine ring of the bound inhibitor is on the surface of the protein at the edge of the interface between domains 3 and 4, suggesting this as the entry point for the amine substrate.

RIP2 kinase is a central component of the innate immune system and enables downstream signaling following activation of the pattern recognition receptors NOD1 and NOD2, leading to the production of inflammatory cytokines. Recently, several inhibitors of RIP2 kinase have been disclosed that have contributed to the fundamental understanding of the role of RIP2 in this pathway. However, because they lack either broad kinase selectivity or strong affinity for RIP2, these tools have only limited utility to assess the role of RIP2 in complex environments. We present, herein, the discovery and pharmacological characterization of GSK583, a next-generation RIP2 inhibitor possessing exquisite selectivity and potency. Having demonstrated the pharmacological precision of this tool compound, we report its use in elucidating the role of RIP2 kinase in a variety of in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo experiments, further clarifying our understanding of the role of RIP2 in NOD1 and NOD2 mediated disease pathogenesis.

Selective covalent inhibition of kinases by targeting poorly conserved cysteines has proven highly fruitful to date in the development of chemical probes and approved drugs. However, this approach is limited to ∼200 kinases possessing such a cysteine near the ATP-binding pocket. Herein, we report a novel approach to achieve selective, irreversible kinase inhibition, by targeting the conserved catalytic lysine residue. We have illustrated our approach by developing selective, covalent PI3Kδ inhibitors that exhibit nanomolar potency in cellular assays, and a duration of action >48 h in CD4+ T cells. Despite conservation of the lysine residue throughout the kinome, the lead compound shows high levels of selectivity over a selection of lipid and protein kinases in biochemical assays, as well as covalent binding to very few off-target proteins in live-cell proteomic studies. We anticipate this approach could offer a general strategy, as an alternative to targeting non-conserved cysteines, for the development of selective covalent kinase inhibitors.

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world's oldest and deadliest diseases, killing a person every 20 s. InhA, the enoyl-ACP reductase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is the target of the frontline antitubercular drug isoniazid (INH). Compounds that directly target InhA and do not require activation by mycobacterial catalase peroxidase KatG are promising candidates for treating infections caused by INH resistant strains. The application of the encoded library technology (ELT) to the discovery of direct InhA inhibitors yielded compound 7 endowed with good enzymatic potency but with low antitubercular potency. This work reports the hit identification, the selected strategy for potency optimization, the structure−activity relationships of a hundred analogues synthesized, and the results of the in vivo efficacy studies performed with the lead compound 65.