Venglustat Inhibits Protein N-Terminal Methyltransferase 1 in a Substrate-Competitive Manner

J Med Chem. 2022 Sep 22;65(18):12334-12345. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c01050. Epub 2022 Sep 8.

Abstract

Venglustat is a known allosteric inhibitor for ceramide glycosyltransferase, investigated in diseases caused by lysosomal dysfunction. Here, we identified venglustat as a potent inhibitor (IC50 = 0.42 μM) of protein N-terminal methyltransferase 1 (NTMT1) by screening 58,130 compounds. Furthermore, venglustat exhibited selectivity for NTMT1 over 36 other methyltransferases. The crystal structure of NTMT1-venglustat and inhibition mechanism revealed that venglustat competitively binds at the peptide substrate site. Meanwhile, venglustat potently inhibited protein N-terminal methylation levels in cells (IC50 = 0.5 μM). Preliminary structure-activity relationships indicated that the quinuclidine and fluorophenyl parts of venglustat are important for NTMT1 inhibition. In summary, we confirmed that venglustat is a bona fide NTMT1 inhibitor, which would advance the study on the biological roles of NTMT1. Additionally, this is the first disclosure of NTMT1 as a new molecular target of venglustat, which would cast light on its mechanism of action to guide the clinical investigations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

  • Carbamates / chemistry
  • Carbamates / pharmacology*
  • Ceramides
  • Enzyme Inhibitors* / chemistry
  • Enzyme Inhibitors* / pharmacology
  • Glycosyltransferases / metabolism
  • Methylation
  • Methyltransferases*
  • Quinuclidines / chemistry
  • Quinuclidines / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Carbamates
  • Ceramides
  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Quinuclidines
  • venglustat
  • Methyltransferases
  • Glycosyltransferases