Serendipitous alkylation of a Plk1 ligand uncovers a new binding channel

In the current work, unanticipated synthetic byproducts were obtained arising from alkylation of the δ(1) nitrogen (N3) of the histidine imidazole ring of the polo-like kinase-1 (Plk1) polo-box domain (PBD)-binding peptide PLHSpT. For the highest affinity byproduct, bearing a C(6)H(5)(CH(2))(8)– group, a Plk1 PBD co-crystal structure revealed a new binding channel that had previously been occluded. An N-terminal PEGylated version of this peptide containing a hydrolytically-stable phosphothreonyl residue (pT) bound to the Plk1 PBD with affinity equal to the non-PEGylated parent, yet it exhibited significantly less interaction with the PBDs of the two closely-related Plk2 or Plk3. Treatment of cultured cells with this PEGylated peptide resulted in Plk1 delocalization from centrosomes and kinetochores, and chromosome misalignment that effectively induced mitotic block and apoptotic cell death. This work provides new insights that may advance efforts to develop Plk1 PBD-binding inhibitors as potential Plk1-specific anticancer therapeutic agents.