Ribonucleotide reductase holoenzyme inhibitor COH29 interacts with deubiquitinase ubiquitin-specific protease 2 and downregulates its substrate protein cyclin D1

USP2 contributes to the quality control of multiple oncogenic proteins including cyclin D1, Mdm2, Aurora-A, etc., and it is a potential target for anti-cancer drug development. However, currently only a few inhibitors with moderate inhibition activities against USP2 have been discovered. USP2-targeted active compounds with either new scaffolds or enhanced activities are in need. Here in this study, Ub-AMC hydrolysis assay-based screening against similar to 4000 commercially available drugs and drug candidates was performed to identify USP2-targeted inhibitors. COH29, which was originally developed as an anti-cancer agent by blocking the function of human ribonucleotide reductase (RNR, IC50 = 16 mu M), was found to exhibit an inhibition activity against USP2 with the IC50 value at 2.02 +/- 0.16 mu M. The following conducted biophysical and biochemical experiments demonstrated that COH29 could specifically interact with USP2 and inhibit its enzymatic activity in a noncompetitive inhibition mode (K-i = 1.73 +/- 0.14 mu M). Since COH29 shows similar inhibitory potencies against RNR (RRM2) and USP2, USP2 inhibition-dependent cellular consequences of COH29 are expected. The results of cellular assays confirmed that the application of COH29 could downregulate the level of cyclin D1 by enhancing its degradation via ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), and the modulation effect of COH29 on cyclin D1 is independent of RRM2. Since cyclin D1 acts as an oncogenic driver in human cancer, our findings suggest that USP2 might be a promising therapeutic target for cyclin D1-addicted cancers, and COH29 could serve as a starting compound for high selectivity inhibitor development against USP2.

Automated summary

The study identified COH29 as a compound that can inhibit both RNR and USP2, with the ability to modulate the expression of cyclin D1 by enhancing its degradation. This suggests the potential of USP2 as a therapeutic target for cyclin D1-addicted cancers and COH29 as a starting compound for selective inhibitor development against USP2.