Snoopligase-catalyzed molecular glue enables efficient generation of hyperoligomerized TRAIL variant with enhanced antitumor effect

Clinical application of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is predominantly limited by its inefficient apoptosis induction in tumor cells, which might be improved by using molecular superglue-mediated hyperoligomerization to increase its valency. Here, the minimal superglue peptide pairs, including Snoopligase-catalyzed SnoopTagJr/SnoopDogTag and SpyStapler-catalyzed SpyTag/SpyBDTag, were individually fused at the N- or C-terminus of the TRAIL promoter to produce superglue-fusion TRAIL variants. Similar to native trivalent TRAIL, these superglue-fusion TRAIL variants were highly expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and spontaneously trimerized. In the presence of Snoopligase or SpyStapler, the trivalent superglue-fusion TRAIL variants were predominantly crosslinked into hexavalent TRAIL variants. Nevertheless, Snoopligase was more efficient than SpyStapler in the production of hexavalent TRAIL variants. In particular, Snoopligase-catalyzed trivalent TRAIL variants with N-terminal fusion of SnoopTagJr/SnoopDogTag produced hexavalent SnHexaTR with the highest yield (∼70%). The in vitro cytotoxicity of SnHexaTR was 10–40 times greater than that of TRAIL in several tumor cells. In addition, compared to trivalent TRAIL, hexavalent SnHexaTR showed a longer serum half-life and greater tumor uptake, which resulted in eradication of 50% of tumor xenografts of TRAIL-sensitive COLO 205. In mice bearing TRAIL-resistant HT-29 tumor xenografts, hexavalent SnHexaTR combined with bortezomib encapsulated in liposomes also showed robust tumor growth suppression, indicating that hyperoligomerization mediated by minimal molecular superglue significantly increased the cytotoxicity and antitumor effect of TRAIL. As a novel anticancer agent candidate, the hexavalent SnHexaTR has great potential for clinical application in cancer therapy.