Acquisition of sensitivity of stress-activated protein kinases to the p38 inhibitor, SB 203580, by alteration of one or more amino acids within the ATP binding pocket.

Pyridinyl imidazole inhibitors of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase compete with ATP for binding. Mutation of 23 residues in the ATP pocket indicated that several residues which affected binding of pyridinyl imidazole photoaffinity cross-linker 125I-SB 206718 did not affect kinase activity, and vice versa, suggesting that pyridinyl imidazoles bind p38 differently than ATP. Two close homologues of p38, SAPK3 and SAPK4, are not inhibited by SB 203580 and differ from p38 by three amino acids near the hinge of the ATP pocket. Substitution of the three amino acids in p38 by those in SAPK3/4 (Thr-106, His-107, and Leu-108 to Met, Pro, and Phe) resulted in decreased 125I-SB 206718 cross-linking and loss of inhibition by SB 203580. Substitution of just Thr-106 by Met resulted in incomplete loss of inhibition. Conversely, substitution of the three amino acids of p38 into SAPK3, SAPK4, or the more distantly related JNK1 resulted in inhibition by SB 203580, whereas mutation of just Met-106 to Thr resulted in weaker inhibition. These results indicate that these three amino acids can confer specificity and sensitivity to SB 203580 for at least two different classes of MAPKs.