Many cereblon (CRBN) ligands have been used to develop proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs), but all are reversible binders of the E3 ubiquitin ligase. We recently described the use of sulfonyl exchange chemistry to design binders that covalently engage histidine 353 in CRBN for the first time. Here we show that covalent CRBN ligands can be used to develop efficient PROTAC degraders. We demonstrate that the fluorosulfate PROTAC FS-ARV-825 covalently labels CRBN in vitro, and in cells the BRD4 degrader is insensitive to wash-out and competition by potent reversible CRBN ligands, reflecting enhanced pharmacodynamics. We anticipate that covalent CRBN-based PROTACs will enhance degradation efficiencies, thus expanding the scope of addressable targets using the heterobifunctional degrader modality.
A blog highlighting recent publications in the area of covalent modification of proteins, particularly relating to covalent-modifier drugs. @CovalentMod on Twitter, @covalentmod@mstdn.science on Mastodon, and @covalentmod.bsky.social on BlueSky
Chimeric deubiquitinase engineering reveals structural basis for specific inhibition of the mitophagy regulator USP30
Nafizul Haque Kazi, Nikolas Klink, Kai Gallant, Gian-Marvin Kipka & Malte Gersch Nat Struct Mol Biol , 2025 https://doi.org/10.1038/s415...
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DOI Ansgar Oberheide, Maxime van den Oetelaar, Jakob Scheele, Jan Borggräfe, Semmy Engelen, Michael Sattler, Christian Ottmann, ...
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Özge Ünsal, Z. Selin Bacaksiz, Vladislav Khamraev, Vittorio Montanari, Martin Beinborn, and Krishna Kumar ACS Chemical Biology 2024 DOI: ...
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Klett, T., Schwer, M., Ernst, L. N., Engelhardt, M. U., Jaag, S. J., Masberg, B., … Boeckler, F. M. Drug Design, Development and Therapy, 20...