Identification and validation of novel PERK inhibitors

PERK, as one of the principle unfolded protein response signal transducers, is believed to be associated with many human diseases, such as cancer and type-II diabetes. There has been increasing effort to discover potent PERK inhibitors due to its potential therapeutic interest. In this study, a computer-based virtual screening approach is employed to discover novel PERK inhibitors, followed by experimental validation. Using a focused library, we show that a consensus approach, combining pharmacophore modeling and docking, can be more cost-effective than using either approach alone. It is also demonstrated that the conformational flexibility near the active site is an important consideration in structure-based docking and can be addressed by using molecular dynamics. The consensus approach has further been applied to screen the ZINC lead-like database, resulting in the identification of 10 active compounds, two of which show IC50 values that are less than 10 μM in a dose-response assay.