Identification of a primary target of thalidomide teratogenicity.

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Ito T, Ando H, Suzuki T, Ogura T, Hotta K, Imamura Y, Yamaguchi Y, Handa H

Identification of a primary target of thalidomide teratogenicity.

Science. 2010 Mar 12;327(5971):1345-50. doi: 10.1126/science.1177319.

PubMed ID

20223979 [ View in PubMed

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Abstract

Half a century ago, thalidomide was widely prescribed to pregnant women as a sedative but was found to be teratogenic, causing multiple birth defects. Today, thalidomide is still used in the treatment of leprosy and multiple myeloma, although how it causes limb malformation and other developmental defects is unknown. Here, we identified cereblon (CRBN) as a thalidomide-binding protein. CRBN forms an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex with damaged DNA binding protein 1 (DDB1) and Cul4A that is important for limb outgrowth and expression of the fibroblast growth factor Fgf8 in zebrafish and chicks. Thalidomide initiates its teratogenic effects by binding to CRBN and inhibiting the associated ubiquitin ligase activity. This study reveals a basis for thalidomide teratogenicity and may contribute to the development of new thalidomide derivatives without teratogenic activity.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drug Targets

Drug	Target	Kind	Organism	Pharmacological Action	Actions
Pomalidomide	Protein cereblon	Protein	Humans	Yes	Inhibitor	Details

Polypeptides

Name	UniProt ID
Protein cereblon	Q96SW2	Details