Characterizing the structure–activity relationships of natural products, tanshinones, reveals their mode of action in inhibiting spleen tyrosine kinase

The cytosolic non-receptor protein kinase, spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK), is an attractive drug target in autoimmune, inflammatory disorder, and cancers indications. Here, we employed pharmacophore-based drug screening combined with biochemical assay and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to identify and characterize inhibitors targeting SYK. The built pharmacophore model, phar-TanI, successfully identified tanshinone (TanI (IC(50) = 1.72 μM)) and its analogs (TanIIA (IC(50) = 3.2 μM), ST32da (IC(50) = 46 μM), and ST32db (IC(50) = 51 μM)) which apparently attenuated the activities of SYK in vitro. Additionally, the MD simulations followed by Ligplot analyses revealed that TanI and TanIIA interfered SYK activity through binding deeply into the active site. Besides, TanI and TanIIA mainly interact with residues L377, A400, V433, M448, M450, A451, E452, L453, G454, P455, and L501, which are functional hotspots for structure-based inhibitor optimization against SYK. The structure–activity relationships (SAR) study of the identified SYK inhibitors demonstrated that the pharmacophore model, phar-TanI is reliable and precise in screening inhibitors against SYK. This study disclosed the structure–function relationships of tanshinones from Traditional Chinese Medicine (Danshen), revealing their binding site and mode of action in inhibiting SYK and provides applicability in developing new therapeutic agents.