Abstract
Engineered non-antibody scaffold proteins constitute a rapidly growing technology for diagnostics and modulation/perturbation of protein function. Here, we describe the rapid and systematic development of high-affinity 10FN3 domain inhibitors of the MDM2 and MDMX proteins. These are often overexpressed in cancer and represent attractive drug targets. Using facile in vitro expression and pull-down assay methodology, numerous design iterations addressing insertion site(s) and spacer length were screened for optimal presentation of an MDM2/X dual peptide inhibitor in the 10FN3 scaffold. Lead inhibitors demonstrated robust, on-target cellular inhibition of MDM2/X leading to activation of the p53 tumor suppressor. Significant improvement to target engagement was observed by increasing valency within a single 10FN3 domain, which has not been demonstrated previously. We further established stable reporter cell lines with tunable expression of EGFP-fused 10FN3 domain inhibitors, and showed their intracellular location to be contingent on target engagement. Importantly, competitive inhibition of MDM2/X by small molecules and cell-penetrating peptides led to a readily observable phenotype, indicating significant potential of the developed platform as a robust tool for cell-based drug screening.