Publications
The Journal of biological chemistryOct 2023 |
105381
DOI:
10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105381

Redirecting the specificity of tripartite motif containing-21 scaffolds using a novel discovery and design approach

VanDyke, Derek; Xu, Linda; Sargunas, Paul R; Gilbreth, Ryan N; Baca, Manuel; Gao, Changshou; Hunt, James; Spangler, Jamie B
Product Used
Genes
Abstract
Hijacking the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) to elicit targeted protein degradation (TPD) has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy to target and destroy intracellular proteins at the posttranslational level. Small molecule-based TPD approaches, such as proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) and molecular glues have shown potential, with several agents currently in clinical trials. Biological PROTACs (bioPROTACs), which are engineered fusion proteins comprised of a target-binding domain and an E3 ubiquitin ligase have emerged as a complementary approach for TPD. Here, we describe a new method for the evolution and design of bioPROTACs. Specifically, engineered binding scaffolds based on the third fibronectin type III domain of human tenascin-C (Tn3) were installed into the E3 ligase tripartite motif containing-21 (TRIM21) to redirect its degradation specificity. This was achieved via selection of naïve yeast-displayed Tn3 libraries against two different oncogenic proteins associated with B-cell lymphomas, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation protein 1 (MALT1) and embryonic ectoderm development (EED) protein, and replacing the native substrate-binding domain of TRIM21 with our evolved Tn3 domains. The resulting TRIM21-Tn3 fusion proteins retained the binding properties of the Tn3 as well as the E3 ligase activity of TRIM21. Moreover, we demonstrated that TRIM21-Tn3 fusion proteins efficiently degraded their respective target proteins through the UPS in cellular models. We explored the effects of binding domain avidity and E3 ligase utilization to gain insight into the requirements for effective bioPROTAC design. Overall, this study presents a versatile engineering approach that could be used to design and engineer TRIM21-based bioPROTACs against therapeutic targets.
Product Used
Genes

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