Jan G. Felber

Despite recent advances in targeted drug delivery, approved Antibody-Drug-Conjugates (ADCs) are still limited by the delivery of a restricted set of payloads with limited modes of action (MOA). Versatile linkers, applicable to functional groups prevalent across diverse pharmacophores are needed to expand this space. We present phosphoramidate-based self-immolative linker-units that facilitate stable attachment in serum and traceless drug release in the target cell of aliphatic and aromatic alcohols. Studies with camptothecins show that stability and release are tunable and that various intracellular trigger events can be exploited to ensure traceless drug delivery. Superior stability, in vivo efficacy, and pharmacokinetics (PK) compared to approved camptothecin ADCs are demonstrated. Moreover, we report targeted delivery of 10 different hydroxy-containing cytotoxins with different intracellular MOAs. In vivo studies with gemcitabine show excellent PK and efficacy, unlocking gemcitabine’s full potential and illustrating the ability of the phosphoramidate-based linker system to expand the payload space for ADCs.

We report piperazine-fused six-membered-cyclic disulfides as redox substrates that unlock best-in-class bioreduction probes for live cell biology, since their self-immolation after reduction is unprecedentedly rapid. We develop scalable, diastereomerically pure, six-step syntheses that access four key cis- and trans-piperazine-fused cyclic dichalcogenides without chromatography. Fluorogenic redox probes using the disulfide piperazines are activated >100-fold faster than the prior art monoamines, allowing us to deconvolute reduction and cyclization rates during activation. The cis- and trans-fused diastereomers have remarkably different reductant specificities, which we trace back to piperazine boat/chair conformation effects: the cis-fused disulfide C-DiThia is activated only by strong vicinal dithiol reductants, but the trans-disulfide T-DiThia is activated even by moderate concentrations of monothiols such as GSH. Thus, in cellular applications, cis-disulfide probes selectively report on the reductive activity of the powerful thioredoxin proteins, while trans-disulfides are rapidly but promiscuously reactive. Finally, we showcase late-stage diversifications of the piperazine-disulfides, promising their broad applicability as redox-cleavable cores for probes and prodrugs that interface powerfully with cellular thiol/disulfide redox biology, for solid phase synthesis and purification, and for stimulus-responsive linkers in bifunctional reagents and antibody-drug conjugates - in addition to their dithiols' potential as high-performance reducing agents.

5‐Methylcytosine (m⁵C) is an RNA modification prevalent on tRNAs, where it can protect tRNAs from endonucleolytic cleavage to maintain protein synthesis. The NSUN family (NSUN1‐7 in humans) of RNA methyltransferases are capable of installing the methyl group onto the C⁵ position of cytosines in RNA. NSUNs are implicated in a wide range of (patho)physiological processes, but selective and cell‐active inhibitors of these enzymes are lacking. Here, we use cysteine‐directed activity‐based protein profiling (ABPP) to discover azetidine acrylamides that act as stereoselective covalent inhibitors of human NSUN2. Despite targeting a conserved catalytic cysteine in the NSUN family, the NSUN2 inhibitors show negligible cross‐reactivity with other human NSUNs and exhibit good proteome‐wide selectivity. We verify that the azetidine acrylamides inhibit the catalytic activity of recombinant NSUN2, but not NSUN6, and demonstrate that these compounds stereoselectively disrupt NSUN2‐tRNA interactions in cancer cells, leading to a global reduction in tRNA m⁵C content. Our findings thus highlight the potential to create isotype‐selective and cell‐active inhibitors of NSUN2 with covalent chemistry targeting a conserved catalytic cysteine.

5‐Methylcytosine (m⁵C) is an RNA modification prevalent on tRNAs, where it can protect tRNAs from endonucleolytic cleavage to maintain protein synthesis. The NSUN family (NSUN1‐7 in humans) of RNA methyltransferases are capable of installing the methyl group onto the C⁵ position of cytosines in RNA. NSUNs are implicated in a wide range of (patho)physiological processes, but selective and cell‐active inhibitors of these enzymes are lacking. Here, we use cysteine‐directed activity‐based protein profiling (ABPP) to discover azetidine acrylamides that act as stereoselective covalent inhibitors of human NSUN2. Despite targeting a conserved catalytic cysteine in the NSUN family, the NSUN2 inhibitors show negligible cross‐reactivity with other human NSUNs and exhibit good proteome‐wide selectivity. We verify that the azetidine acrylamides inhibit the catalytic activity of recombinant NSUN2, but not NSUN6, and demonstrate that these compounds stereoselectively disrupt NSUN2‐tRNA interactions in cancer cells, leading to a global reduction in tRNA m⁵C content. Our findings thus highlight the potential to create isotype‐selective and cell‐active inhibitors of NSUN2 with covalent chemistry targeting a conserved catalytic cysteine.

We report piperazine-fused six-membered-cyclic dichalcogenides as rapid-response redox substrates that interface with thiol/disulfide redox biology. Combining the stability of 1,2-dithianes with unprecedentedly rapid kinetics of self-immolation after reduction, these motifs are uniquely high-performance reduction-responsive motifs for live cell probes. We develop scalable, diastereomerically pure, six-step synthetic routes with just one chromatographic purification to access four key cis- and trans-piperazine-fused cyclic disulfide and diselenide cores. Fluorogenic redox probes using the disulfide-piperazines are activated >100-fold faster than the previously known monoamines, allowing us to deconvolute the kinetics of the reduction and the cyclisation steps during activation. The cis- and trans-fused diastereomers have remarkably different reductant specificities: the cis disulfides are activated only by strong vicinal dithiol reductants, but the trans-fused disulfides are activated even by moderate concentrations of monothiols such as GSH. Thus, although both disulfides are substrates for redoxins, in cellular applications the cis-disulfide probes were found to selectively report on reductive activity of thioredoxins, while the trans-disulfides are more rapidly but more promiscuously reactive. Finally, we showcase efficient late-stage synthetic diversification of the piperazine-disulfides, promising their broad applicability as robust cleavable cores for redox probes and prodrugs in biology, for solid phase synthesis and purifications, and as stimulus-responsive linkers for bifunctional reagents and antibody-drug conjugates.

Small-molecule prodrug approaches that can activate cancer therapeutics selectively in tumors are urgently needed. Here, we developed the first antitumor prodrugs designed for activation by thiol-manifold oxidoreductases, targeting the thioredoxin (Trx) system. The Trx system is a critical cellular redox axis that is tightly linked to dysregulated redox/metabolic states in cancer, yet it cannot be addressed by current bioreductive prodrugs, which mainly cluster around oxidized nitrogen species. We instead harnessed Trx/TrxR-specific artificial dichalcogenides to gate the bioactivity of 10 “off-to-on” reduction-activated duocarmycin prodrugs. The prodrugs were tested for cell-free and cellular reductase-dependent activity in 177 cell lines, establishing broad trends for redox-based cellular bioactivity of the dichalcogenides. They were well tolerated in vivo in mice, indicating low systemic release of their duocarmycin cargo, and in vivo anti-tumor efficacy trials in mouse models of breast and pancreatic cancer gave promising indications of effective tumoral drug release, presumably by in situ bioreductive activation. This work therefore presents a chemically novel class of bioreductive prodrugs against a previously unaddressed reductase chemotype, validates its ability to access in vivo-compatible small-molecule prodrugs even of potently cumulative toxins, and so introduces carefully tuned dichalcogenides as a platform strategy for specific bioreduction-based release.

Synthetic analogues of the DNA-alkylating cytotoxins of the duocarmycin class have been extensively investigated in the past 40 years, driven by their high potency, their unusual mechanism of bioactivity, and the beautiful modularity of their structure-activity relationship (SAR). This Perspective analyzes how the molecular designs of synthetic duocarmycins have evolved: from (1) early SAR studies, through to modern applications for directed cancer therapy as (2) prodrugs and (3) antibody-drug conjugates in late-stage clinical development. Analyzing 583 primary research articles and patents from 1978 to 2022, we distill out a searchable A0-format "Minard map" poster of ca. 200 key structure/function-tuning steps tracing chemical developments across these three key areas. This structure-based overview showcases the ingenious approaches to tune and target bioactivity, that continue to drive development of the elegant and powerful duocarmycin platform.

Small molecule prodrug approaches that can activate cancer therapeutics selectively in tumors are urgently needed. Here, we developed the first antitumor prodrugs designed for activation by the thioredoxin (Trx) oxidoreductase system. This critical cellular disulfide redox axis is tightly linked to dysregulated redox/metabolic states in cancer, yet it cannot be addressed by current bioreductive prodrugs, which mainly cluster around oxidised nitrogen species. We instead harnessed Trx/TrxR-specific artificial dichalcogenides to gate the bioactivity of a series of 10 “off-to-on” reduction-activated duocarmycin prodrugs. The prodrugs were tested for cell-free and cellular activity dependent on reducing enzyme systems in 177 cell lines, to establish broad trends for redox-based cellular bioactivity of the dichalcogenides. They were well tolerated in vivo in mice, indicating low systemic release of their duocarmycin cargo, and in vivo anti-tumor efficacy trials in mouse models of breast and pancreatic cancer gave promising initial results indicating effective tumoral drug release, presumably by in situ bioreductive activation. This work therefore presents a chemically novel class of bioreductive prodrugs against a previously unaddressed reductase type, validates its ability to access in vivo compatible small-molecule prodrugs even of potently cumulative toxins, and so introduces carefully tuned dichalcogenides as a platform strategy for specific bioreduction-based release.

The cyclic five-membered disulfide 1,2-dithiolane has been widely used in chemical biology and in redox probes. Contradictory reports have described it either as nonspecifically reduced in cells, or else as a highly specific substrate for thioredoxin reductase (TrxR). Here we show that 1,2-dithiolane probes, such as “TRFS” probes, are nonspecifically reduced by thiol reductants and redox-active proteins, and their cellular performance is barely affected by TrxR inhibition or knockout. Therefore, results of cellular imaging or inhibitor screening using 1,2-dithiolanes should not be interpreted as reflecting TrxR activity, and previous studies may need re-evaluation. To understand 1,2-dithiolanes’ complex behaviour, probe localisation, environment-dependent fluorescence, reduction-independent ring-opening polymerisation, and thiol-dependent cellular uptake must all be considered; particular caution is needed when co-applying thiophilic inhibitors. We present a general approach controlling against assay misinterpretation with reducible probes, to ensure future TrxR-targeted designs are robustly evaluated for selectivity, and to better orient future research.