Discovery of TNF Inhibitors from a DNA-Encoded Chemical Library based on Diels-Alder Cycloaddition

DNA-encoded chemical libraries are promising tools for the discovery of ligands toward protein targets of pharmaceutical relevance. DNA-encoded small molecules can be enriched in affinity-based selections and their unique DNA "barcode" allows the amplification and identification by high-throughput sequencing. We describe selection experiments using a DNA-encoded 4000-compound library generated by Diels-Alder cycloadditions. High-throughput sequencing enabled the identification and relative quantification of library members before and after selection. Sequence enrichment profiles corresponding to the "bar-coded" library members were validated by affinity measurements of single compounds. We were able to affinity mature trypsin inhibitors and identify a series of albumin binders for the conjugation of pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, we discovered a ligand for the antiapoptotic Bcl-xL protein and a class of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) binders that completely inhibited TNF-mediated killing of L-M fibroblasts in vitro.