Protein-targeting strategy used to develop a selective inhibitor of the E17K point mutation in the PH Domain of Akt1

Ligands that can selectively bind to proteins with single amino acid point mutations offer the potential to detect or treat an abnormal protein in the presence of the wildtype. However, it is difficult to develop a selective ligand if the point mutation is not associated with an addressable location, such as a binding pocket. Here we report an all-chemical, synthetic epitope-targeting strategy which we used to discover a 5-mer peptide with selectivity for the E17K transforming point mutation in the Pleckstrin Homology Domain of the Akt1 oncoprotein. A fragment of Akt1 containing the E17K mutation and a I19[Propargylglycine] substitution was synthesized to form an addressable synthetic epitope. Azide-presenting peptides that covalently clicked onto this alkyne-presenting epitope were selected from a library using in situ screening. One peptide exhibits a 10:1 in vitro selectivity for the oncoprotein relative to wildtype, with a similar selectivity in cells. This 5-mer peptide was expanded into a larger ligand that selectively blocks the E17K Akt1 interaction with its PIP3 substrate.