Identifying drug targets in tissues and whole blood with thermal-shift profiling

Nat Biotechnol. 2020 Mar;38(3):303-308. doi: 10.1038/s41587-019-0388-4. Epub 2020 Jan 20.

Abstract

Monitoring drug-target interactions with methods such as the cellular thermal-shift assay (CETSA) is well established for simple cell systems but remains challenging in vivo. Here we introduce tissue thermal proteome profiling (tissue-TPP), which measures binding of small-molecule drugs to proteins in tissue samples from drug-treated animals by detecting changes in protein thermal stability using quantitative mass spectrometry. We report organ-specific, proteome-wide thermal stability maps and derive target profiles of the non-covalent histone deacetylase inhibitor panobinostat in rat liver, lung, kidney and spleen and of the B-Raf inhibitor vemurafenib in mouse testis. In addition, we devised blood-CETSA and blood-TPP and applied it to measure target and off-target engagement of panobinostat and the BET family inhibitor JQ1 directly in whole blood. Blood-TPP analysis of panobinostat confirmed its binding to known targets and also revealed thermal stabilization of the zinc-finger transcription factor ZNF512. These methods will help to elucidate the mechanisms of drug action in vivo.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Azepines / administration & dosage
  • Azepines / pharmacology
  • Blood / metabolism*
  • Hep G2 Cells
  • Humans
  • Kidney / chemistry
  • Kidney / metabolism
  • Liver / chemistry
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Lung / chemistry
  • Lung / metabolism
  • Male
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Mice
  • Organ Specificity
  • Panobinostat / administration & dosage
  • Panobinostat / pharmacology
  • Protein Stability
  • Proteome / chemistry*
  • Proteome / metabolism*
  • Rats
  • Small Molecule Libraries / administration & dosage*
  • Small Molecule Libraries / pharmacology
  • Spleen / chemistry
  • Spleen / metabolism
  • Testis / chemistry
  • Testis / metabolism
  • Thermodynamics
  • Triazoles / administration & dosage
  • Triazoles / pharmacology
  • Vemurafenib / administration & dosage
  • Vemurafenib / pharmacology

Substances

  • (+)-JQ1 compound
  • Azepines
  • Proteome
  • Small Molecule Libraries
  • Triazoles
  • Vemurafenib
  • Panobinostat