Deubiquitinase-targeting chimeras (DUBTACs) are an emerging class of therapeutics that can stabilize tumor suppressors by hijacking a deubiquitinase (DUB), thereby offering a strategic pivot from conventional approaches to target tumor suppressors. However, only OTUB1 and USP7 have been harnessed for DUBTAC development to date. Here, we show for the first time that USP28 can be leveraged for developing DUBTACs. Utilizing a USP28 non-covalent ligand, we crafted USP28-recruiting DUBTACs that effectively stabilized the ΔF508-CFTR
mutant protein, with comparable effectiveness to the previously reported OTUB1- and USP7-recruiting CFTR DUBTACs. Furthermore, we developed USP28-recruiting cGAS DUBTACs that effectively stabilized cGAS, elevated the cGAS-STING signaling pathway, and elicited an anti-proliferative effect. We also developed first-in-class PPARγ DUBTACs to intervene with
cancer metabolism pathways. Our lead PPARγ DUBTACs effectively stabilized PPARγ and suppressed the proliferation in
cancer cells, thus providing a new potential anti-
cancer therapeutic approach. Hence, this work advances the targeted
protein stabilization field.