# Using phosphorylation signatures of drug perturbagens to identify exercise-mimetic compounds

> **NIH NIH R03** · BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. · 2021 · $298,188

## Abstract

Project Summary
Protein phosphorylation plays a major role in perturbation-induced signal transduction. The Library of Integrated
Network-based Signatures (LINCS) P100 project has generated targeted (using 96 carefully chosen
phosphosites) and comprehensive (using DIA, data independent acquisition) mass spectrometry (MS)-based
phosphoproteomic datasets characterizing cell states perturbed using a collection of common bioactive
therapeutic (“known”) compounds. The analysis of phosphoproteomics data acquired using DIA is challenging,
and as a result the comprehensive LINCS DIA data has not yet been leveraged to its full potential. The Molecular
Transducers of Physical Activity (MoTrPAC) consortium has also used phosphoproteomics (along with other
omics data) to quantify the molecular effects of exercise. Using methods like post-translational modification site-
specific enrichment analysis (PTM-SEA, Krug et al. MCP, 2019), perturbation-induced phosphorylation
signatures can be correlated with exercise-induced phosphorylation changes to identify known compounds that
can mimic the effects of physical activity, providing an exciting opportunity to enhance the combined utility and
impact of the LINCS and MoTrPAC Common Fund datasets.
The goal of our proposal is to test the hypothesis that there are known compounds that can mimic the effects of
physical activity. To accomplish this goal, the PTM signatures database (PTMsigDB) will be significantly
expanded using the LINCS DIA data.These signatures will then be correlated with phosphoproteomic changes
induced by physical activity provided by MoTrPAC to nominate exercise-mimetic drugs.
With these goals in mind we will 1) Develop and apply an automated, cloud-based pipeline to greatly expand
phospho-perturbation profiles from existing LINCS data from 100 to several thousand distinct phosphosites; 2)
Derive perturbation-specific phosphoproteomic signatures from the greatly expanded phospho-profiling data;
and 3) Identify exercise mimetic drugs using PTM signature enrichment in MoTrPAC phosphoproteomic data
from acute and long-term exercise. Successful application of the proposed strategy will nominate a list of
exercise-mimetic drugs with the potential to initiate entirely new avenues of research focused on finding new
therapeutic approaches to combat aging or muscle wasting (cachexia) in cancer patients.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10357036
- **Project number:** 1R03OD032626-01
- **Recipient organization:** BROAD INSTITUTE, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Denkanikota R Mani
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $298,188
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-22 → 2022-09-21

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10357036

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10357036, Using phosphorylation signatures of drug perturbagens to identify exercise-mimetic compounds (1R03OD032626-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10357036. Licensed CC0.

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