protein kinase cysteinome

Protein kinases are a large family of approximately 530 highly conserved enzymes that transfer a γ-phosphate group from ATP to a variety of amino acid residues, such as tyrosine, serine, and threonine, that serves as a ubiquitous mechanism for cellular signal transduction.

The clinical success of a number of kinase-directed drugs and the frequent observation of disease causing mutations in protein kinases suggest that a large number of kinases may represent therapeutically relevant targets.

To date, the majority of clinical and preclinical kinase inhibitors are ATP competitive, non-covalent inhibitors that achieve selectivity through recognition of unique features of particular protein kinases.

Recently, there has been renewed interest in the development of irreversible inhibitors that form covalent bonds with cysteine or other nucleophilic residues in the ATP-binding pocket.

Irreversible kinase inhibitors have a number of potential advantages including prolonged pharmacodynamics, suitability for rational design, high potency, and ability to validate pharmacological specificity through mutation of the reactive cysteine residue.

Open References

 Developing irreversible inhibitors of the protein kinase cysteinome. Liu Q, Sabnis Y, Zhao Z, Zhang T, Buhrlage SJ, Jones LH, Gray NS. Chem Biol. 2013 Feb 21;20(2):146-59. doi : 10.1016/j.chembiol.2012.12.006 PMID: 23438744 [Free]