Multiplex imaging and cellular target identification of kinase inhibitors via an affinity-based proteome profiling approach

• Main Authors: Su, Ying, Pan, Sijun, Li, Zhengqiu, Li, Lin, Wu, Xiaoyuan, Hao, Piliang, Sze, Siu Kwan, Yao, Shao Q.
• Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/106925; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/25151
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

MLN8237 is a highly potent and presumably selective inhibitor of Aurora kinase A (AKA) and has shown promising antitumor activities. Like other kinase inhibitors which target the ATP-binding site of kinases, MLN8237 might be expected to have potential cellular off-targets. Herein, we report the first photoaffinity-based, small molecule AKA probe capable of both live-cell imaging of AKA activities and in situ proteome profiling of potential off-targets of MLN8237 (including AKA-associating proteins). By using two mutually compatible, bioorthogonal reactions (copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition chemistry and TCO-tetrazine ligation), we demostrate small molecule-based multiplex bioimaging for simultaneous in situ monitoring of two important cell-cycle regulating kinases (AKA and CDK1). A broad range of proteins, as potential off-targets of MLN8237 and AKA's-interacting partners, is subsequently identified by affinity-based proteome profiling coupled with large-scale LC-MS/MS analysis. From these studies, we discover novel AKA interactions which were further validated by cell-based immunoprecipitation (IP) experiments.