Resolving hot spots in the C-terminal dimerization domain that determine the stability of the molecular chaperone Hsp90

PLoS One. 2014 Apr 23;9(4):e96031. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096031. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Human heat shock protein of 90 kDa (hHsp90) is a homodimer that has an essential role in facilitating malignant transformation at the molecular level. Inhibiting hHsp90 function is a validated approach for treating different types of tumors. Inhibiting the dimerization of hHsp90 via its C-terminal domain (CTD) should provide a novel way to therapeutically interfere with hHsp90 function. Here, we predicted hot spot residues that cluster in the CTD dimerization interface by a structural decomposition of the effective energy of binding computed by the MM-GBSA approach and confirmed these predictions using in silico alanine scanning with DrugScore(PPI). Mutation of these residues to alanine caused a significant decrease in the melting temperature according to differential scanning fluorimetry experiments, indicating a reduced stability of the mutant hHsp90 complexes. Size exclusion chromatography and multi-angle light scattering studies demonstrate that the reduced stability of the mutant hHsp90 correlates with a lower complex stoichiometry due to the disruption of the dimerization interface. These results suggest that the identified hot spot residues can be used as a pharmacophoric template for identifying and designing small-molecule inhibitors of hHsp90 dimerization.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alanine / genetics
  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins / chemistry*
  • HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Mutation
  • Protein Multimerization
  • Protein Stability
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / chemistry
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism*
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / chemistry*
  • Structural Homology, Protein
  • Transition Temperature

Substances

  • HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
  • Alanine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by funds from the Strategischer Forschungsfonds of the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.