Covalent inhibitors have garnered renewed attention in recent years, with their rational design becoming increasingly critical in drug discovery. Among the technologies facilitating the discovery of covalent inhibitors, covalent docking has emerged as a pivotal tool in various stages of drug development including virtual screening, lead optimization, and mechanistic studies. Since its inception as an extension of conventional docking methods in the early 2000s, covalent docking tools have undergone substantial advancements. This review provides a comprehensive overview of covalent docking algorithms, systematically categorizing their approaches according to covalent bond formation, which primarily include tethered docking, biased docking, and dynamic covalent docking approaches. A comparative analysis of current covalent docking tools is provided, alongside a critical discussion of remaining challenges. Special emphasis is placed on the growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping novel methodologies and expanding the capabilities of covalent docking. Finally, we discuss prospects for advancing covalent docking methodologies and their applications in drug discovery.
Shi Li, Hongyan Du, Hui Zhang et al.· WIREs Computational Molecula...· 2 citations
The discovery of CAP-Gly domain-containing linker protein 1(CLIP1)-Leukocyte tyrosine kinase (LTK) as an oncogenic fusion reveals a unique dependency not only on LTK kinase activity but also on CLIP1-mediated multimerization, a noncatalytic function that drives oncogenic signaling. While this fusion is currently targeted with anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitors, their exclusive focus on kinase inhibition leaves the scaffolding function intact, necessitating a complete protein clearance strategy. Here, we report the AI-guided development of a first-in-class proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) designed to selectively degrade the CLIP1-LTK fusion protein. By integrating deep learning models for ternary complex prediction with structure-based molecular optimization, we designed DCL05, an orally bioavailable degrader of CLIP1-LTK fusion protein, achieving picomolar degradation potency (DC50 = 40 pM) and robust antitumor activity. DCL05 consistently outperformed existing kinase inhibitors across a broad spectrum of LTK resistance-associated mutations, both in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, our study explores resistance-associated contexts of LTK and establishes a structure-guided PROTAC development pipeline, providing a promising therapeutic strategy for overcoming acquired resistance in kinase-driven cancers.
Shicheng Chen, Haiting Duan, S. Zhong et al.· Proceedings of the National...· 0 citations