Selective inhibition of protein methyltransferases is a promising new approach to drug discovery. An attractive strategy towards this goal is the development of compounds that selectively inhibit binding of the cofactor, S-adenosylmethionine, within specific protein methyltransferases. Here we report the three-dimensional structure of the protein methyltransferase DOT1L bound to EPZ004777, the first S-adenosylmethionine-competitive inhibitor of a protein methyltransferase with in vivo efficacy. This structure and those of four new analogues reveal remodelling of the catalytic site. EPZ004777 and a brominated analogue, SGC0946, inhibit DOT1L in vitro and selectively kill mixed lineage leukaemia cells, in which DOT1L is aberrantly localized via interaction with an oncogenic MLL fusion protein. These data provide important new insight into mechanisms of cell-active S-adenosylmethioninecompetitive protein methyltransferase inhibitors, and establish a foundation for the further development of drug-like inhibitors of DOT1L for cancer therapy.

Epigenetic regulations are involved in numerous physiological and pathogenic processes. Among the key regulators that orchestrate epigenetic signaling are over 50 human protein lysine methyltransferases (PKMTs). Interrogating the functions of individual PKMTs can be facilitated by target-specific PKMT inhibitors. Given the emerging need of such small molecules, we envision an approach to identify target-specific methyltransferase inhibitors by screening privileged small-molecule scaffolds against diverse methyltransferases. Here we demonstrate such feasibility by identifying the inhibitors of SETD2. N-propyl sinefungin (Pr-SNF) was shown to preferentially interact with SETD2 by matching the distinct transition-state features of SETD2’s catalytically-active conformer. With Pr-SNF as a structure probe, we further revealed the dual roles of SETD2’s post-SET loop on regulating substrate access through a distinct topological reconfiguration. Privileged sinefungin scaffolds are expected to have broad use as structure and chemical probes of methyltransferases.

PRMT3, a protein arginine methyltransferase, has been shown to influence ribosomal biosynthesis by catalyzing the dimethylation of the 40S ribosomal protein S2. Although PRMT3 has been reported to be a cytosolic protein, it has been shown to methylate histone H4 peptide (H4 1-24) in vitro. Here, we report the identification of a PRMT3 inhibitor (1-(benzo[d][1,2,3]thiadiazol-6-yl)-3-(2-cyclohexenylethyl)urea; compound 1) with IC50 value of 2.5 μM by screening a library of 16,000 compounds using H4 (1-24) peptide as a substrate. The crystal structure of PRMT3 in complex with compound 1 as well as kinetic analysis reveals an allosteric mechanism of inhibition. Mutating PRMT3 residues within the allosteric site or using compound 1 analogs that disrupt interactions with allosteric site residues both abrogated binding and inhibitory activity. These data demonstrate an allosteric mechanism for inhibition of protein arginine methyltransferases, an emerging class of therapeutic targets.