Lauren R.
Yule
abc,
Rebekah L.
Bower
a,
Harveen
Kaur
bc,
Renata
Kowalczyk
abc,
Debbie L.
Hay
ac and
Margaret. A.
Brimble
*abc
aThe School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, 3A Symonds St, Auckland 1010, New Zealand. E-mail: dl.hay@auckland.ac.nz
bThe School of Chemical Sciences, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds St, Auckland 1010, New Zealand. E-mail: m.brimble@auckland.ac.nz
cMaurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
First published on 26th April 2016
Pramlintide (Symlin®), a synthetic analogue of the neuroendocrine hormone amylin, is devoid of the tendency to form cytotoxic amyloid fibrils and is currently used in patients with type I and type II diabetes mellitus as an adjunctive therapy with insulin or insulin analogues. As part of an on-going search for a pramlintide analogue with improved pharmacokinetic properties, we herein report the synthesis of mono- and di-glycosylated analogues of pramlintide and their activity at the AMY1(a) receptor. Introduction of N-glycosylated amino acids into the pramlintide sequence afforded the native N-linked glycomimetics whilst use of Cu(I)-catalysed azide–alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (click) chemistry delivered 1,2,3-triazole linked glycomimetics. AMY1(a) receptor activity was retained by incorporation of single or multiple GlcNAc moieties at positions 21 and 35 of native pramlintide. Importantly, no difference in AMY1(a) activity was observed between native N-linked glycomimetics and 1,2,3-triazole linked glycomimetics demonstrating that the click variants can act as surrogates for the native N-glycosides in a biological setting.
Pramlintide 1 lowers post-prandial glucose levels in both type I and type II DM. For type I DM, it is used as an adjunctive therapy along with mealtime insulin alone. In late stage type II DM, it is used as an adjunctive treatment to mealtime insulin in patients who have failed to obtain glucose control despite optimal insulin therapy.10 Amylin and therefore pramlintide 1, demonstrate the ability to regulate nutrient intake by inducing satiety. Pramlintide 1 has been tested in several clinical trials and consistently reduces bodyweight.11 However, despite its numerous beneficial pharmacodynamic properties, problematic pharmacokinetic properties of the peptide still exist. For instance, pramlintide 1 has a circulatory half-life of only 48 minutes, and is cleared from the body within two to three hours after intravenous input is discontinued.10,12 Moreover, insulin and pramlintide 1 possess differences in both the isoelectric point and pH,13 thus co-formulation with insulin is currently not possible.10,12
The use of peptide hormones as therapeutic treatments is limited by their short half-lives and rapid proteolysis. Chemical techniques including the incorporation of unnatural amino acids such as β-amino acids,14 mutation of the enzymatic cleavage site15 and the covalent attachment of fatty acids (lipidation), sugars (glycosylation), or polyethylene glycol units (PEGylation)16,17 can be used to develop peptide hormone analogues with enhanced activity, half-life or physiochemical properties. This has led to the development of several peptide hormone analogues used to treat type II DM, such as Semaglutide,18 a GLP-1 receptor agonist with two amino acid substitutions (Aib-8, Arg-34) and a lipidated Lys-26, with increased resistance to proteolysis.19 A number of these procedures have been previously investigated on pramlintide 1, including lipidation using fatty acids incorporated via lysine or cysteine residue side chains,20 and glycosylation.21,22 Glycosylation is a technique that has been used successfully to improve the proteolytic stability of peptide hormones related to diabetes, including GLP-1,23 insulin24 and exendin-4.25 Our group have investigated the effects of the incorporation of three carbohydrates GlcNAc, Man3(GlcNAc)2 and (NeuAcGalGlcNAcMan)2Man(GlcNAc)2 at each of the six asparagine residues (Asn-3, Asn-14, Asn-21, Asn-22, Asn-31 and Asn-35) of pramlintide 1via N-glycosylation and subsequent enzymatic glycosylation.21 Nevertheless, the synthesis of the glycosylated pramlintides required the tedious preparation of the Fmoc-Asn(GlcNAc(OAc)3)-OH building block,26 maximally protected for 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl solid phase peptide synthesis (Fmoc-SPPS). An alternative method to install the GlcNAc moiety without the need for extensive synthesis of glycosylated amino acid building blocks and using the unprotected sugar under aqueous conditions is desirable. Moreover, it is advantageous to develop a method for simultaneous introduction of several GlcNAc moieties. With the aim of preparing a pramlintide analogue with improved pharmacokinetic properties, taking into account the desire to use an improved method to introduce the GlcNAc moiety, we herein describe the synthesis and receptor activity of pramlintide analogues 2–13 (Fig. 2). Our earlier work focused on pramlintide analogues containing a single sugar substitution, using native N-glycosylation, of which pramlintide analogues with native sugars incorporated at positions 21 and 35 were found to exhibit the best activity.21 Thus, as a logical extension to our previously reported structure–activity relationship study,21 in the work described herein, single or multiple GlcNAc moieties were selectively incorporated at positions 21 and/or 35 of pramlintide 1 to further improve the solubility and pharmacokinetics of the native peptide. This was carried out using a combination of N-glycosylation to deliver a native N-GlcNAc linkage and/or the Cu(I)-catalysed azide–alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (click chemistry)27,28 to deliver a non-native 1,2,3-triazole glycosidic linkage, providing a library of analogues 2–13 of pramlintide 1 (Fig. 2). The click reaction offers an efficient method to effect the glycosylation of peptides and proteins, in which a non-native 1,2,3-triazole glycosidic bond is formed following peptide assembly.29 Peptides incorporating the commercially available propargylglycine moiety (Fmoc-L-Pra) are readily assembled using Fmoc-SPPS, thus providing a handle with which glycosylazides react with selectively. Click chemistry therefore enables control over the structure and the site of glycosylation,30 and enables facile introduction of unprotected glycans into the peptide sequence under aqueous conditions.29,31 Moreover, the 1,2,3-triazole glycosidic linkage is likely to be resistant to enzymatic or digestive hydrolysis,7 further increasing the stability of the pramlintide analogues.
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| Fig. 2 Sequences for pramlintide 1 and pramlintide analogues 2–13, and structures of L-Pra, click 1,2,3-triazole linked GlcNAc and the native N-linked GlcNAc. | ||
Our present study focused on the synthesis of click glycomimetics 2, 3 and 4 bearing a 1,2,3-triazole linked GlcNAc moiety at residues 21 or 35 and at both 21 and 35, respectively (Fig. 2). We also prepared pramlintide analogues 5, 6, and 7 containing an L-Pra moiety at residues 21, 35 and both 21 and 35, respectively. Glycopramlintide analogues 8 (used in previous studies)21 and 9 were prepared bearing a native N-linked GlcNAc at residue 21, and at both residues 21 and 35, respectively. In addition, glycopramlintide analogue 10, containing both a 1,2,3-triazole linked GlcNAc at residue 21 and a native N-linked GlcNAc at residue 35 was prepared together with glycopramlintide analogue 11, containing a 1,2,3-triazole linked GlcNAc at residue 35 and a native N-linked GlcNAc at residue 21. Lastly, we prepared analogues 12 and 13 containing both an L-Pra moiety and a native N-linked GlcNAc at residues 21 and 35 (analogue 12) and residues 35 and 21, respectively (analogue 13).
A disulfide bond (Cys-2/Cys-7) and a C-terminal amide are required for receptor affinity of pramlintide 1, and this was synthetically accommodated for. The corresponding linear precursors 14–17 to peptides 1–7 were prepared by initial functionalization of aminomethyl polystyrene resin 1832 with a 4-[(R,S)-α-[1-(9H-fluoren-9-yl)]-methoxycarbonylamino]-2,4-dimethoxyphenoxyacetic acid (Rink amide linker) 19 (Scheme 1). Nα-Fmoc-deprotection, using 20% piperidine in DMF, and subsequent peptide elongation was performed using an automated Tribute™ peptide synthesiser at room temperature (rt). Serine- and threonine-derived oxazolidines (pseudoprolines, ΨPro) serve as reversible protecting groups for serine or threonine during SPPS.33,34 The use of these building blocks results in the introduction of a “kink” in the backbone of the peptide, as well as removing hydrogen bond donors, which helps to prevent peptide aggregation by disrupting secondary structures such as β-sheets during chain assembly. Amylin, and a number of other long or hydrophobic peptides such as exenatide,35,36 have been successfully synthesised using a pseudoproline dipeptide.34,37–39 As a result, the Fmoc-Ser(tBu)-Ser(ΨMe,MePro)-OH 21 building block was incorporated into the synthesis of the crude pramlintide analogues 15–17 (containing a hydrophobic L-Pra) in place of the two native serine residues at positions 19 and 20 of the pramlintide sequence. For standard amino acid couplings, a mixture of O-(6-chlorobenzotriazol-1-yl)-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate (HCTU) and N,N-diisopropylethylamine (iPr2NEt) were employed. Alternatively, for the coupling of Fmoc-L-Pra-OH 20 and Fmoc-Ser(tBu)-Ser(ΨMe,MePro)-OH 21, O-(7-azabenzotriazol-1-yl)-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate (HATU) and 2,4,6-trimethylpyridine (collidine) were used for 90 min at rt. The linear precursors were then released from the resin with simultaneous side-chain deprotection, using a mixture of trifluoroacetic acid/triisopropylsilane/water/3,6-dioxa-1,8-octanedithiol (TFA/TIS/H2O/DODT) (v/v/v/v; 94/1/2.5/2.5), affording the corresponding crude peptides 14–17 (Scheme 1).
Subsequent disulfide bond formation (Cys-2/Cys-7) for analogues 1, 5, 6 and 7 was performed directly on crude peptides 14–17 using 6 M guanidinium hydrochloride (Gu·HCl) and disodium hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4) as buffer. After 2 h, the desired disulfide-containing pramlintide 1 (from 14) and disulfide-containing pramlintide analogues 5 (from 15), 6 (from 16) and 7 (from 17) were formed quantitatively as evidenced by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS) (see ESI†). Alternatively, crude peptides 14–17 underwent one-pot click chemistry and simultaneous disulfide bond formation (Cys-2/Cys-7) in solution using β-GlcNAcN322 (synthesised in one step from unprotected GlcNAc40) using previously optimised conditions31 to afford the 1,2,3-triazole linked GlcNAc at position 21 (analogue 2), position 35 (analogue 3) and at both positions 21 and 35 (analogue 4). The reaction was quantitative, and purification using reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) enabled the isolation of pure samples of the desired native pramlintide 1, 1,2,3-triazole linked GlcNAc pramlintide analogues 2, 3 and 4 and L-Pra pramlintide analogues 5, 6 and 7 in excellent purities ranging from 94–99% (see ESI† for details).
26 was coupled using HATU and collidine activation for either 90 min (24 and 26) or 15 min (25 and 27) sequence (Scheme 2). LCMS analysis of a sample of crude pramlintide analogues 25 and 27 (synthesised under mw conditions) revealed partial deprotection of the sugar hydroxyls had occurred; however, this was not a concern as the next synthetic step was the removal of the hydroxyl protecting groups to obtain pramlintide analogues 9, 11 and 13. Deprotection of the acetate protecting groups on the sugar hydroxyls with simultaneous disulfide bond formation (Cys-2/Cys-7) was carried out on crude linear peptides 24–27 using 5% hydrazine hydrate (NH2NH2·5 H2O) in DMSO for 3 h at rt to afford, with full conversion, the desired crude mono- and di-glycosylated analogues 8 (from 24), 9 (from 25), 12 (from 26), 13 (from 27). Subsequently, the crude monoglycopeptides 12 and 13, containing one native N-GlcNAc and an L-Pra moiety, were subjected to the click chemistry conditions used for the preparation of click glycopeptides 2, 3 and 4. This resulted in the attachment of a second GlcNAc moiety to the L-Pra residue of 12 and 13via a non-native 1,2,3-triazole linkage to afford crude doubly glycosylated pramlintide analogues 10 and 11, containing both a native N-GlcNAc and a non-native 1,2,3-triazole glycosidic linkage. Again, RP-HPLC purification enabled the isolation of pure samples of the desired glycopeptides 8–13 in excellent purities, ranging from 96% to 99% (see ESI† for details).
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| Fig. 3 Activity of pramlintide analogues 2–13 at the AMY1(a) receptor. Data are combined from at least three independent experiments and show the mean ± S.E.M. | ||
| Analogue | X 21 |
Z 35 |
hAMY1(a) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analogue pEC50 ([nM]) | Control (1) pEC50, ([nM]) | Fold-change | E max | |||
| Values are mean ± SEM. Numbers in parentheses represent the number of independent experiments analysed. Unpaired t-tests were performed to compare 1 (control), *P < 0.05; one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's multiple comparisons test was used to compare analogues 2–13 with one-another, aP < 0.05 vs.2, bP < 0.05 vs.4, cP < 0.05 vs.5, dP < 0.05 vs.7, eP < 0.05 vs.8, fP < 0.05 vs.9; other analogues were not significantly different from one another. | ||||||
| 2 | Click GlcNAc | Asn | 9.56 ± 0.09 (4)* (0.28) | 10.0 ± 0.11 (4) (0.10) | −2.9 | 102.5 ± 15.8 |
| 3 | Asn | Click GlcNAc | 9.17 ± 0.02 (3)* (0.68) | 9.64 ± 0.14 (3) (0.23) | −2.9 | 105.7 ± 18.7 |
| 4 | Click GlcNAc | Click GlcNAc | 8.51 ± 0.11 (3)*,a (3.09) | 9.50 ± 0.15 (3) (0.32) | −9.7 | 115.1 ± 14.6 |
| 5 | L-Pra | Asn | 9.59 ± 0.22 (4)b (0.26) | 10.0 ± 0.11 (4) (0.10) | −2.7 | 129.8 ± 26.1 |
| 6 | Asn | L-Pra | 9.08 ± 0.10 (3)* (0.83) | 9.77 ± 0.09 (3) (0.17) | −4.8 | 98.3 ± 10.6 |
| 7 | L-Pra | L-Pra | 8.84 ± 0.11 (3)*,a,c (1.45) | 9.64 ± 0.14 (3) (0.23) | −6.3 | 123.2 ± 20.1 |
| 8 | Native GlcNAc | Asn | 8.58 ± 0.15 (3)*,a,c (2.63) | 9.63 ± 0.17 (3) (0.23) | −11.2 | 122.2 ± 7.57 |
| 9 | Native GlcNAc | Native GlcNAc | 8.71 ± 0.21 (3)*,a,c (1.95) | 9.63 ± 0.17 (3) (0.23) | −8.3 | 137.8 ± 1.13 |
| 10 | Click GlcNAc | Native GlcNAc | 9.25 ± 0.08 (4)*,b (0.56) | 9.98 ± 0.16 (4) (0.10) | −5.4 | 132.6 ± 21.7 |
| 11 | Native GlcNAc | Click GlcNAc | 9.45 ± 0.12 (4)*,b,e,f (0.35) | 10.0 ± 0.11 (4) (0.10) | −3.7 | 121.5 ± 13.6 |
| 12 | L-Pra | Native GlcNAc | 9.64 ± 0.14 (4)b,d,e,f (0.23) | 9.98 ± 0.16 (4) (0.10) | −2.2 | 126.0 ± 19.4 |
| 13 | Native GlcNAc | L-Pra | 9.23 ± 0.10 (4)*,b (0.59) | 9.98 ± 0.16 (3) (0.10) | −5.6 | 118.9 ± 16.6 |
Footnote |
| † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental data for the synthesis and receptor activity testing of compounds 1–13. See DOI: 10.1039/c6ob00850j |
| This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016 |