Discovery of dedicated EPHA2 inhibitors - Medicinal chemistry meets chemical proteomics

ABSTRACT: The receptor tyrosine kinase EPHA2 has gained interest as therapeutical drug target in cancer and infectious diseases in the past years. However, EPHA2 research and EPHA2 based therapies have been hampered by the lack of selective small molecule EPHA2 inhibitors. We report on the synthesis and evaluation of dedicated EPHA2 inhibitors based on the clinical BCR-ABL/SRC inhibitor Dasatinib as lead structure. We designed hybrid structures of Dasatinib, CHEBI-513815, PD-173955 and a known EPHB4 inhibitor aiming at the exploitation of the ATP pocket entrance and the ribose pocket. Medicinal chemistry and inhibitor design was guided by a chemical proteomic approach allowing for early selectivity profiling of the newly synthesized inhibitor candidates. Additionally, protein crystallography delivered detailed insight into the molecular interactions that consitute structure-affinity-relationships. Finally, the anti-proliferative effect of the inhibitor candidates was confirmed in the glioblastoma cell line SF-268. In this work, we discovered a novel EPHA2 inhibitor candidate 4a comprising an improved selectivity profile while maintaining potency against EPHA2 and anti-cancer activity in SF-268 cells.

INSTRUMENT(S):

ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens (human)

TISSUE(S): Cell Culture

SUBMITTER: Stephanie Wilhelm  

LAB HEAD: Bernhard Kuster

PROVIDER: PXD006193 | Pride | 2017-05-30

REPOSITORIES: Pride