Unleashing the Power of Covalent Drugs for Protein Degradation

作者：Meng‐Jie Fu, Hang Jin, Shao‐Peng Wang, Liang Shen, Hong‐Min Liu, Ying Liu, Yi‐Chao Zheng, Xing‐Jie Dai · 发表于：Medicinal Research Reviews · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1002/med.22101 · 被引用次数：23 · 研究领域：Protein Degradation and Inhibitors、Ubiquitin and proteasome pathways、Multiple Myeloma Research and Treatments

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) has emerged as a significant therapeutic approach for a variety of diseases, including cancer. Advances in TPD techniques, such as molecular glue (MG) and lysosome-dependent strategies, have shown substantial progress since the inception of the first PROTAC in 2001. The PROTAC methodology represents the forefront of TPD technology, with ongoing evaluation in more than 20 clinical trials for the treatment of diverse medical conditions. Two prominent PROTACs, ARV-471 and ARV-110, are currently undergoing phase III and II clinical trials, respectively. Traditional PROTACs are encountering obstacles such as limited binding affinity and a restricted range of E3 ligase ligands for facilitating the protein of interest (POI) degradation. Covalent medicines offer the potential to enhance PROTAC efficacy by enabling the targeting of previously considered "undruggable" shallow binding sites. Strategic alterations allow PROTAC to establish covalent connections with particular target proteins, including Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS), Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), as well as E3 ligases such as DDB1 and CUL4 associated factor 16 (DCAF16) and Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1). The concept of covalent degradation has also been utilized in various new forms of degraders, including covalent molecule glue (MG), in-cell click-formed proteolysis targeting chimera (CLIPTAC), HaloPROTAC, lysos...