The FK506-binding protein 51 (FKBP51) emerged as a key player in several diseases like stress-related disorders, chronic pain, and obesity. Linear analogues of FK506 called SAFit were shown to be highly selective for FKBP51 over its closest homologue FKBP52, allowing the proof-of-concept studies in animal models. Here, we designed and synthesized the first macrocyclic FKBP51-selective ligands to stabilize the active conformation. All macrocycles retained full FKBP51 affinity and selectivity over FKBP52 and the incorporation of polar functionalities further enhanced affinity. Six high-resolution crystal structures of macrocyclic inhibitors in complex with FKBP51 confirmed the desired selectivity-enabling binding mode. Our results show that macrocyclization is a viable strategy to target the shallow FKBP51 binding site selectively.

Human histoned eacetylase 8i saw ell-recognized target forT-cell lymphomaa nd particularly childhoodn euroblastoma. PD-404,182 was shown to be as elective covalent inhibitor of HDAC8t hat formsm ixed disulfides with several cysteine residues and is also able to transform thiol groups to thiocyanates. Moreover,H DAC8 was shown to be regulated by ar edox switch based on the reversible formation of a disulfideb ond between cysteines Cys 102 andC ys 153 .T his study on the distinct effects of PD-404,182 on HDAC8 reveals that this compound induces the dose-dependent formationo fi ntramolecular disulfide bridges. Therefore,t he inhibition mechanism of HDAC8b yP D-404,182 involves both, covalentmodification of thiols as well as ligand mediated disulfide formation. Moreover,t his study provides ad eep moleculari nsighti ntot he regulation mechanismo fH DAC8i nvolvings everal cysteines with graduated capability to form reversible disulfide bridges.

Histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8) is an established and validated target for T-cell lymphoma and childhood neuroblastoma. The active site binding pocket of HDAC8 is highly conserved among all zinc-containing representatives of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) family. This explains that most HDACs are unselectively recognized by similar inhibitors featuring a zinc binding group (ZBG), a hydrophobic linker and a head group. In the light of this difficulty, the creation of isoenzyme-selectivity is one of the major challenges in the development of HDAC inhibitors. In a series of trifluoromethylketone inhibitors of HDAC8 compound 10 shows a distinct binding mechanism and a dramatically increased residence time (RT) providing kinetic selectivity against HDAC4. Combining the binding kinetics results with computational docking and binding site flexibility analysis suggests that 10 occupies the conserved catalytic site as well as an adjacent transient sub-pocket of HDAC8.

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In recent years, the selective inhibition of FKBP51 has emerged as a possible treatment for chronic pain, obesityinduced diabetes, or depression. All currently known advanced FKBP51-selective inhibitors, including the widely used SAFit2, contain a cyclohexyl residue as a key motif for enabling selectivity over the closest homologue and anti-target FKBP52. During a structure-based SAR exploration, we surprisingly discovered thiophenes as highly efficient cyclohexyl replacement moieties that retain the strong selectivity of SAFit-type inhibitors for FKBP51 over FKBP52. Cocrystal structures revealed that the thiophenecontaining moieties enable selectivity by stabilizing a flipped-out conformation of Phe 67 of FKBP51. Our best compound, 19b, potently binds to FKBP51 biochemically as well as in mammalian cells, desensitize TRPV1 in primary sensory neurons, and has an acceptable PK profile in mice, suggesting its use as a novel tool compound for studying FKBP51 in animal models of neuropathic pain.