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QM/MM and molecular dynamics investigation of the mechanism of covalent inhibition of TAK1 kinase
Author(s)
Date Issued
February 14, 2021
Type
Article
Abstract
TAK1 is a serine/threonine kinase which is involved in the moderation of cell survival and deathviathe TNFα signalling pathway. It is also implicated in a range of cancer and anti-inflammatory diseases. Drug discovery efforts on this target have focused on both traditional reversible ATP-binding site inhibitors and increasingly popular irreversible covalent binding inhibitors. Irreversible inhibitors can offer benefits in terms of potency, selectivity and PK/PD meaning they are increasingly pursued where the strategy exists. TAK1 kinase differs from the better-known kinase EGFR in that the reactive cysteine nucleophile targeted by electrophilic inhibitors is located towards the back of the ATP binding site, not at its mouth. While a wealth of structural and computational effort has been spent exploring EGFR, only limited studies on TAK1 have been reported. In this work we report the first QM/MM study on TAK1 aiming to better understand aspects of covalent adduct formation. Our goal is to identify the general base in the catalytic reaction, whether the process proceedsviaa stepwise or concerted pathway, and how the highly flexible G-loop and A-loop affect the catalytic cysteine located nearby.
Citation
Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 19(6), 1412-1425, 2021