Optimization of Phosphotyrosine Peptides that Target the SH2 Domain of SOCS1 and Block Substrate Ubiquitination

Suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) has emerged as a potential therapeutic target in inflammatory and viral diseases. SOCS1 operates via its kinase inhibitory region, Src homology 2 (SH2) domain, and SOCS box to negatively regulate the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription signaling pathway. In this study, we utilized native phosphotyrosine peptide substrates as a starting point to iteratively explore the requirement of each amino acid position to target the SH2 domain of SOCS1. We show that Met, Thr, Thr, Val, and Asp in the respective -1, +1, +2, +3, and +5 positions within the peptide substrate are favored for binding to the SOCS1-SH2 domain and identifying several phosphotyrosine peptides that have potent SOCS1 binding affinity with IC50 values ranging from 20 to 70 nM and greater than 100-fold selectivity against the closely related SOCS family proteins, CIS, SOCS2, and SOCS3. The optimized phosphotyrosine peptide was shown to stabilize SOCS1 in a thermal shift assay using cell lysates and inhibited SOCS1-mediated ubiquitination of a target substrate in a biochemical assay. Collectively, these data provide the framework to develop cell-permeable peptidomimetics that further investigate the potential of the SOCS1-SH2 domain as a therapeutic target in inflammatory and viral diseases.