Cited by 67Protein Degradation and InhibitorsProtein Kinase Regulation and GTPase SignalingProtein Tyrosine Phosphatases

Allostery: Allosteric Cancer Drivers and Innovative Allosteric Drugs

Open access
Nussinov, Ruth, Zhang, Mingzhen, Maloney, Ryan, Liu, Yonglan, Tsai, Chung-Jung, Jang, Hyunbum·2022·Journal of Molecular Biology

Abstract

Here, we discuss the principles of allosteric activating mutations, propagation downstream of the signals that they prompt, and allosteric drugs, with examples from the Ras signaling network. We focus on Abl kinase where mutations shift the landscape toward the active, imatinib binding-incompetent conformation, likely resulting in the high affinity ATP outcompeting drug binding. Recent pharmacological innovation extends to allosteric inhibitor (GNF-5)-linked PROTAC, targeting Bcr-Abl1 myristoylation site, and broadly, allosteric heterobifunctional degraders that destroy targets, rather than inhibiting them. Designed chemical linkers in bifunctional degraders can connect the allosteric ligand that binds the target protein and the E3 ubiquitin ligase warhead anchor. The physical properties and favored conformational state of the engineered linker can precisely coordinate the distance and orientation between the target and the recruited E3. Allosteric PROTACs, noncompetitive molecular glues, and bitopic ligands, with covalent links of allosteric ligands and orthosteric warheads, increase the effective local concentration of productively oriented and placed ligands. Through covalent chemical or peptide linkers, allosteric drugs can collaborate with competitive drugs, degrader anchors, or other molecules of choice, driving innovative drug discovery.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jmb.2022.167569

Cites

292 of 292 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Allosteric drugs have higher specificity and lower toxicity due to targeting nonconserved allosteric sites.

    “Due to its higher specificity and consequently lower toxicity, which results from targeting nonconserved allosteric sites, allostery also increasingly features in allosteric drugs.”

    From AlphaFold, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Allostery (2022) · cites this paper as [121]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 294 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Nussinov, R., Zhang, M., Maloney, R., Liu, Y., Tsai, C.-J., & Jang, H.
Affiliations
  • Tel Aviv University (IL)
  • Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (US)
Corresponding author
Nussinov, Ruth
Venue
Journal of Molecular Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2022-09
Volume
434
Issue
17
Pages
167569
ISSN
0022-2836 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4220688241
Cited by
66
References
294
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 9
FWCI
1.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Molecular Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
  • National Institutes of Health (HHSN261201500003I)
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • National Cancer Institute
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Degradation and Inhibitors
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Kinase Regulation and GTPase Signaling
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases
Keywords
Ras signaling, c-Abl, PROTACs, chemical linkers, E3 ubiquitin ligase, molecular glues, bitopic ligands, drug discovery
MeSH terms
Allosteric Regulation, Antineoplastic Agents, Humans, Ligands, Mutation, Neoplasms, Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl, Protein Kinase Inhibitors, Drug Discovery, Proteolysis

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review