Drug discovery for heart failure targeting myosin-binding protein C

Cardiac MyBP-C (cMyBP-C) interacts with actin-myosin to fine-tune cardiac muscle contractility. Phosphorylation of cMyBP-C, which reduces binding of cMyBP-C to actin or myosin, is often decreased in heart failure (HF) patients, and is cardioprotective in model systems for HF. Therefore, cMyBP-C is a potential target for HF drugs that mimic phosphorylation and/or perturb its interactions with actin or myosin. We labeled actin with fluorescein-5-maleimide (FMAL), and the C0-C2 fragment of cMyBP-C (cC0-C2) with tetramethyl rhodamine (TMR). We performed two complementary high-throughput screens (HTS) on an FDA-approved drug library, to discover small molecules that specifically bind to cMyBP-C and affect its interactions with actin or myosin, using fluorescence lifetime (FLT) detection. We first excited FMAL and detected its FLT, to measure changes in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from FMAL (donor) to TMR (acceptor), indicating binding and/or structural changes in the protein complex. Using the same samples, we then excited TMR directly, using a longer wavelength laser, to detect the effects of compounds on the environmentally sensitive FLT of TMR, to identify compounds that bind directly to cC0-C2. Secondary assays, performed on selected modulators with the most promising effects in the primary HTS assays, characterized specificity of these compounds for phosphorylated versus unphosphorylated cC0-C2 and for cC0-C2 versus C1-C2 of fast skeletal muscle (fskC1-C2). A subset of identified compounds modulated ATPase activity in cardiac and/or skeletal myofibrils. These assays establish feasibility for discovery of small-molecule modulators of the cMyBP-C-actin/myosin interaction, with the ultimate goal of developing therapies for HF.