Molecular Targeting of VEGF with a Suramin Fragment–DOCA Conjugate by Mimicking the Action of Low Molecular Weight Heparins

Abstract

Molecular targeting of growth factors has shown great therapeutic potential in pharmaceutical research due to their roles in pathological conditions. In the present study, we developed a novel suramin fragment and deoxycholic acid conjugate (SFD) that exhibited the potential to bind to the heparin-binding site (HBD) of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and to inhibit its pathogenic action for the first time. Notably, SFD was optimally designed for binding to the HBD of VEGF using the naphthalenetrisulfonate group, allowing to observe its excellent binding efficacy in a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) study, showing remarkable binding affinity (KD = 3.8 nM) as a small molecule inhibitor. In the tubular formation assay, it was observed that SFD could bind to HBD and exhibit antiangiogenic efficacy by inhibiting VEGF, such as heparins. The cellular treatment of SFD resulted in VEGF-inhibitory effects in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Therefore, we propose that SFD can be employed as a novel drug candidate to inhibit the pathophysiological action of VEGF in diseases. Consequently, SFD, which has a molecular structure optimized for binding to HBD, is put forward as a new chemical VEGF inhibitor.