A Selective and Brain Penetrant p38αMAPK Inhibitor Candidate for Neurologic and Neuropsychiatric Disorders That Attenuates Neuroinflammation and Cognitive Dysfunction.

ABSTRACT: The p38αMAPK is a serine/threonine protein kinase and a key node in the intracellular signaling networks that transduce and amplify stress signals into physiological changes. A preponderance of preclinical data and clinical observations established p38αMAPK as a brain drug discovery target involved in neuroinflammatory responses and synaptic dysfunction in multiple degenerative and neuropsychiatric brain disorders. We summarize the discovery of highly selective, brain-penetrant, small molecule p38αMAPK inhibitors that are efficacious in diverse animal models of neurologic disorders. A crystallography and pharmacoinformatic approach to fragment expansion enabled the discovery of an efficacious hit. The addition of secondary pharmacology screens to refinement delivered lead compounds with im

SUBMITTER: Roy SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6580366 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature