Discovery of novel small molecule inhibitors of S100P with in vitro anti-metastatic effects on pancreatic cancer cells

Ramatoulie Camara, Deborah Ogbeni, Lisa Gerstmann, Mehrnoosh Ostovar, Ellie Hurer, Mark Scott, Nasir G Mahmoud, Tomasz Radon, Tatjana Crnogorac-Jurcevic, Pryank Patel, Louise S Mackenzie, David Chau, Stewart Kirton, Sharon Rossiter

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    S100P, a calcium- binding protein, is known to advance tumor progression and metastasis in pancreatic and several other cancers. Herein is described the in silico identification of a putative binding pocket of S100P to identify, synthesize and evaluate novel small molecules with the potential to selectively bind S100P and inhibit its activation of cell survival and metastatic pathways. The virtual screening of a drug-like database against the S100P model led to the identification of over 100 clusters of diverse scaffolds. A representative test set identified a number of structurally unrelated hits that inhibit S100P-RAGE interaction, measured by ELISA, and reduce in vitro cell invasion selectively in S100P-expressing pancreatic cancer cells at 10 µM. This study establishes a proof of concept in the potential for rational design of small molecule S100P inhibitors for drug candidate development.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number112621
    Pages (from-to)1-14
    Number of pages14
    JournalEuropean Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
    Volume203
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 15 Jul 2020

    Keywords

    • Calcium-binding protein
    • Inhibitor
    • Metastasis
    • Pancreatic cancer
    • S100P
    • Virtual screen

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