Exploiting the Carboxylate-Binding Pocket of beta-Lactamase Enzymes Using a Focused DNA-Encoded Chemical Library.
Park, S., Fan, J., Chamakuri, S., Palaniappan, M., Sharma, K., Qin, X., Wang, J., Tan, Z., Judge, A., Hu, L., Sankaran, B., Li, F., Prasad, B.V.V., Matzuk, M.M., Palzkill, T.(2024) J Med Chem 67: 620-642
- PubMed: 38117688 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c01834
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
8SQF, 8SQG - PubMed Abstract: 
β-Lactamase enzymes hydrolyze and thereby provide bacterial resistance to the important β-lactam class of antibiotics. The OXA-48 and NDM-1 β-lactamases cause resistance to the last-resort β-lactams, carbapenems, leading to a serious public health threat. Here, we utilized DNA-encoded chemical library (DECL) technology to discover novel β-lactamase inhibitors. We exploited the β-lactamase enzyme-substrate binding interactions and created a DECL targeting the carboxylate-binding pocket present in all β-lactamases. A library of 10 6 compounds, each containing a carboxylic acid or a tetrazole as an enzyme recognition element, was designed, constructed, and used to identify OXA-48 and NDM-1 inhibitors with micromolar to nanomolar potency. Further optimization led to NDM-1 inhibitors with increased potencies and biological activities. This work demonstrates that the carboxylate-binding pocket-targeting DECL, designed based on substrate binding information, aids in inhibitor identification and led to the discovery of novel non-β-lactam pharmacophores for the development of β-lactamase inhibitors for enzymes of different structural and mechanistic classes.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, United States.