Selective Inhibition of BFL1: It's All about Finding the Right Partner.

In this issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Harvey et al. (2020) identify 4E14, a sulfhydryl-containing N-acetyltryptophan analog that selectively disrupts binding to the previously undruggable anti-apoptotic BCL2 paralog BFL1, and elucidate a BFL1 conformational change that facilitates 4E14 interaction. These results provide insight that will accelerate development of BFL1 inhibitors.