Dr. Thorsten Mosler, Leader Proximity Proteomics, Uni Frankfurt
Molecular glue degraders represent a rapidly expanding class of small molecules that reprogram E3 ubiquitin ligases to ubiquitinate and degrade disease-relevant proteins. Despite their therapeutic potential, the rational design of molecular glues remains challenging, underscoring the need for unbiased discovery strategies to identify new chemical targets. To address this challenge, we developed ProxiCapture, an affinity-based proteomics workflow that models the systemic behavior of molecular glues by combining purified CRBN-ΔHBD protein with native cell or tissue lysates. Systematic application of ProxiCapture across eight cancer cell lines, three maturation states of immune cells, and paired primary healthy and tumor tissues, revealed a comprehensive atlas of pomalidomide interactors, including previously uncharacterized targets. These findings reveal that degrader-dependent interactors of CRBN are context-dependent, requiring broad, physiologically and systemically anchored sampling to uncover the full “glueable” proteome. Taken together, this study establishes a scalable platform that accelerates molecular glue discovery by capturing cell- and tissue-specific recruitment profiles and predicting system-wide degrader effects.
