RAS-inhibiting biologics identify and probe druggable pockets including an SII-α3 allosteric site

ABSTRACT RAS mutations are the most common oncogenic drivers across human cancers, but there remains a paucity of clinically-validated pharmacological inhibitors of RAS, as druggable pockets have proven difficult to identify. We have identified two RAS-binding Affimer proteins, K3 and K6, that inhibit nucleotide exchange and downstream signalling pathways with distinct isoform and mutant profiles. Affimer K6 is the first biologic to bind in the SI/SII pocket, whilst Affimer K3 is the first non-covalent inhibitor of the SII region, revealing a novel RAS conformer with a large, druggable SII/α3 pocket. This work demonstrates the potential of using biologics with small interface surfaces to select novel druggable conformations in conjunction with pharmacophore identification for hard-to-drug proteins.