PMID: 23995768

Authors:

Patel PD, Yan P, Seidler PM, Patel HJ, Sun W, Yang C, Que NS, Taldone T, Finotti P, Stephani RA, Gewirth DT, Chiosis G

Title:

Paralog-selective Hsp90 inhibitors define tumor-specific regulation of HER2.

Journal:

Nat Chem Biol. 2013 Sep 1. doi: 10.1038/nchembio.1335.

Abstract:

Although the Hsp90 chaperone family, comprised in humans of four paralogs, Hsp90alpha, Hsp90beta, Grp94 and Trap-1, has important roles in malignancy, the contribution of each paralog to the cancer phenotype is poorly understood. This is in large part because reagents to study paralog-specific functions in cancer cells have been unavailable. Here we combine compound library screening with structural and computational analyses to identify purine-based chemical tools that are specific for Hsp90 paralogs. We show that Grp94 selectivity is due to the insertion of these compounds into a new allosteric pocket. We use these tools to demonstrate that cancer cells use individual Hsp90 paralogs to regulate a client protein in a tumor-specific manner and in response to proteome alterations. Finally, we provide new mechanistic evidence explaining why selective Grp94 inhibition is particularly efficacious in certain breast cancers.