New discovery: Compounds that target enzyme, MAP4K3

Daruka Mahadevan, MD, PhD, division chief, hematology-oncology, director of the Institute of Drug Development and associate director for clinical research at Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio and his team have identified a series of small molecule compounds that target an enzyme, MAP4K3, important to amino acid signaling in autophagy, impacting neurologic diseases and cancer.

The team utilized a structure-guided in silico drug discovery method by screening several million molecules to identify four compounds that disrupted the activation-loop dimer interface. The team worked in collaboration with Albert La Spada, MD, PhD, FACMGG, director, UCI Center for Neurotherapeutics. A method-of-use U.S. patent has been awarded. The multi-year funded research project grant was awarded to the Mays Cancer Center in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine, for this project.