Enthalpy-Based Screening of Focused Combinatorial Libraries for the Identification of Potent and Selective Ligands

In modern drug discovery, the ability of biophysical methods, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy or surface plasmon resonance, to detect and characterize ligand-protein interactions accurately and unambiguously makes these approaches preferred versus conventional biochemical high-throughput screening of large collections of compounds. Nonetheless, ligand screening strategies that address simultaneously potency and selectivity have not yet been fully developed. In this work, we propose a novel method for screening large collections of combinatorial libraries using enthalpy measurements as a primary screening technique. We demonstrate that selecting binders that are driven by enthalpy (ΔH) results in agents that are not only potent but also more selective for a given target. This general and novel approach, we termed ΔH screening of fPOS (enthalpy screening of focused positional scanning library), combines the principles of focused combinatorial chemistry with rapid calorimetry measurements to efficiently identify potent and selective inhibitors.