Challenges in Targeting a Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factor with Hydrocarbon-Stapled Peptides.

ABSTRACT: Basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors play critical roles in organism development and disease by regulating cell proliferation and differentiation. Transcriptional activity, whether by bHLH homo- or heterodimerization, is dependent on protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions mediated by α-helices. Thus, α-helical decoys have been proposed as potential targeted therapies for pathologic bHLH transcription. Here, we developed a library of stabilized α-helices of OLIG2 (SAH-OLIG2) to test the capacity of hydrocarbon-stapled peptides to disrupt OLIG2 homodimerization, which drives the development and chemoresistance of glioblastoma multiforme, one of the deadliest forms of human brain cancer. Although stapling successfully reinforced the α-helical structure of bHLH constructs

SUBMITTER: Edwards AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5534327 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature