•The crystal structure of Porphyromonas gingivalis DPP4 has been solved at 2.2 Å resolution.•Substrate binding sites are conserved between pgDPP4 and mammalian DPP4s.•The S2-extended binding site is larger in pgDPP4 than in mammalian DPP4s.•Clinically used DPP4 inhibitors do not inhibit pgDPP4.•SAR of pgDPP4 inhibitors partly mimic that of DPP9.The Gram-negative anaerobe Porphyromonas gingivalis is associated with chronic periodontitis. Clinical isolates of P. gingivalis strains with high dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) expression also had a high capacity for biofilm formation and were more infective. The X-ray crystal structure of P. gingivalis DPP4 was solved at 2.2 Å resolution. Despite a sequence identity of 32%, the overall structure of the dimer was conserved between P. gingivalis DPP4 and mammalian orthologues. The structures of the substrate binding sites were also conserved, except for the region called S2-extensive, which is exploited by specific human DPP4 inhibitors currently used as antidiabetic drugs. Screening of a collection of 450 compounds as inhibitors revealed a structure-activity relationship that mimics in part that of mammalian DPP9. The functional similarity between human and bacterial DPP4 was confirmed using 124 potential peptide substrates.Download high-res image (467KB)Download full-size image

Ferroptosis is a nonapoptotic, iron-catalyzed form of regulated necrosis that is critically dependent on glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4). It has been shown to contribute to liver and kidney ischemia reperfusion injury in mice. A chemical inhibitor discovered by high-throughput screening displayed inhibition of ferroptosis with nanomolar activity and was dubbed ferrostatin-1 (fer-1). Ferrostatins inhibit oxidative lipid damage, but suffer from inherent stability problems due to the presence of an ester moiety. This limits the application of these molecules in vivo, due to rapid hydrolysis of the ester into the inactive carboxylic acid. Previous studies highlighted the importance of the ethyl ester and suggested steric modifications of the ester for generating improved molecules. In this study, we report the synthesis of novel ferroptosis inhibitors containing amide and sulfonamide moieties with improved stability, single digit nanomolar antiferroptotic activity, and good ADME properties suitable for application in in vivo disease models.

Recently, bioorthogonal chemistry based on the Inverse Electron-Demand Diels–Alder (IEDDA) cycloaddition between 1,2,4,5-tetrazines and trans-cyclooctene (TCO) analogues added an interesting dimension to molecular imaging. Until now, antibodies (Abs) were tagged with TCO and after pretargeting they were reacted with tetrazines substituted with reporters. However, TCO tags have the tendency to degrade under physiological conditions, and due to their hydrophobic nature are buried within the protein. This results in loss of reactivity and a low Ab functional loading. To circumvent these problems, we report for the first time an approach in which tetrazines are used as tags for antibody (Ab) modification, and TCO as the imaging agent. We developed a new Ab–tetrazine conjugate, which displays a high functional loading, good stability and reactivity. We utilized this immunoconjugate for live-cell imaging together with novel TCO probes, resulting in selective and rapid labeling of SKOV-3 cells. Our approach may be useful for in vivo pretargeted imaging.

KLK4 is a serine protease from the kallikrein family that is involved in cancer progression. The diphenyl phosphonate warhead is intended to bind irreversibly with serine proteases, but unexpectedly, very potent KLK4 diphenyl phosphonate inhibitors were discovered with reversible inhibition kinetics.

Recently, bioorthogonal chemistry based on the Inverse Electron-Demand Diels–Alder (IEDDA) cycloaddition between 1,2,4,5-tetrazines and trans-cyclooctene (TCO) analogues added an interesting dimension to molecular imaging. Until now, antibodies (Abs) were tagged with TCO and after pretargeting they were reacted with tetrazines substituted with reporters. However, TCO tags have the tendency to degrade under physiological conditions, and due to their hydrophobic nature are buried within the protein. This results in loss of reactivity and a low Ab functional loading. To circumvent these problems, we report for the first time an approach in which tetrazines are used as tags for antibody (Ab) modification, and TCO as the imaging agent. We developed a new Ab–tetrazine conjugate, which displays a high functional loading, good stability and reactivity. We utilized this immunoconjugate for live-cell imaging together with novel TCO probes, resulting in selective and rapid labeling of SKOV-3 cells. Our approach may be useful for in vivo pretargeted imaging.