An enantioselective covalent inhibitor of BAX confers cytoprotection in vivo

No therapies directly block apoptosis in tissue injury or the many diseases driven by cell loss. The BCL-2 family protein BAX is a central mediator of this pathway and C126 resides within a key regulatory region where physiologic or pharmacologic ligands can activate or inhibit its function. Here, we report enantioselective covalent BAX inhibitors that site-specifically react with C126 and confer cytoprotection across multiple cell types. These ligands constrain BAX conformation and suppress apoptosis in a strictly BAX-dependent manner. Medicinal chemistry optimization yielded covalent BAX inhibitor 3 (CBI-3), an analog with pharmacokinetics suitable for in vivo studies. In a murine model of Fas-induced fulminant hepatic failure, CBI-3 reduced hepatocyte apoptosis and preserved liver histology and survival. CBI-3 also conferred cytoprotection of motor neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells of healthy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis donors. These findings establish covalent BAX inhibition as a therapeutic strategy to directly block pathologic cell death.