The structural basis of BCR-ABL recruitment of GRB2 in chronic myelogenous leukemia

BCR-ABL drives chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). BCR binding to GRB2 transduces signaling via the Ras/MAPK pathway. Despite considerable data confirming the binding, molecular-level understanding of exactly how the two proteins interact, and, especially, what are the determinants of the specificity of the SH2(GRB2) domain-phosphorylated BCR (pBCR) recognition are still open questions. Yet, this is vastly important for understanding binding selectivity, and for predicting the phosphorylated receptors, or peptides, that are likely to bind. Here, we uncover these determinants and ascertain to what extent they relate to the affinity of the interaction. Toward this end, we modeled the complexes of the pBCR and SH2(GRB2) and other pY/Y-peptide-SH2 complexes and compared their specificity and affinity. We observed that pBCR’s (176)FpYVNV(180) motif is favorable and specific to SH2(GRB2), similar to pEGFR, but not other complexes. SH2(GRB2) contains two binding pockets: pY-binding recognition pocket triggers binding, and the specificity pocket whose interaction is governed by N179 in pBCR and W121 in SH2(GRB2). Our proposed motif with optimal affinity to SH2(GRB2) is E/D-pY-E/V-N-I/L. Collectively, we provide the structural basis of BCR-ABL recruitment of GRB2, outline its specificity hallmarks, and delineate a blueprint for prediction of BCR-binding scaffolds and for therapeutic peptide design.