Paralog-selective Hsp90 inhibitors define tumor-specific regulation of HER2

Specific inhibitors against Hsp90 paralogs show that Hsp90 and Grp94 regulate HER2 in a cell-specific and proteome alteration-driven manner. Although the Hsp90 chaperone family, comprised in humans of four paralogs, Hsp90α, Hsp90β, Grp94 and Trap-1, has important roles in malignancy, the contribution of each paralog to the cancer phenotype is poorly understood. This is in large part because reagents to study paralog-specific functions in cancer cells have been unavailable. Here we combine compound library screening with structural and computational analyses to identify purine-based chemical tools that are specific for Hsp90 paralogs. We show that Grp94 selectivity is due to the insertion of these compounds into a new allosteric pocket. We use these tools to demonstrate that cancer cells use individual Hsp90 paralogs to regulate a client protein in a tumor-specific manner and in response to proteome alterations. Finally, we provide new mechanistic evidence explaining why selective Grp94 inhibition is particularly efficacious in certain breast cancers.