Elsevier, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 15(23), p. 4408-4412, 2013
DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2013.05.069
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Tubulin is subject to a reversible post-translational modification involving polyglutamylation and deglutamylation of glutamate residues in its C-terminal tail. This process plays key roles in regulating the function of microtubule associated proteins, neuronal development, and metastatic progression. This study describes the synthesis and testing of three phosphinic acid-based inhibitors that have been designed to inhibit both the glutamylating and deglutamylating enzymes. The compounds were tested against the polyglutamylase TTLL7 using tail peptides as substrates (100 µM) and the most potent inhibitor displayed an IC50 value of 150 µM. The incorporation of these compounds into tubulin C-terminal tail peptides may lead to more potent TTLL inhibitors.