Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
5 years ago

Development of Selective Clk1 and -4 Inhibitors for Cellular Depletion of Cancer-Relevant Proteins

Development of Selective Clk1 and -4 Inhibitors for Cellular Depletion of Cancer-Relevant Proteins
Mohammad Abdel-Halim, Ahmed K. ElHady, Matthias Engel, Ashraf H. Abadi
In cancer cells, kinases of the Clk family control the supply of full-length, functional mRNAs coding for a variety of proteins essential to cell growth and survival. Thus, inhibition of Clks might become a novel anticancer strategy, leading to a selective depletion of cancer-relevant proteins after turnover. On the basis of a Weinreb amide hit compound, we designed and synthesized a diverse set of methoxybenzothiophene-2-carboxamides, of which the N-benzylated derivative showed enhanced Clk1 inhibitory activity. Introduction of a m-fluorine in the benzyl moiety eventually led to the discovery of compound 21b, a potent inhibitor of Clk1 and -4 (IC50 = 7 and 2.3 nM, respectively), exhibiting an unprecedented selectivity over Dyrk1A. 21b triggered the depletion of EGFR, HDAC1, and p70S6 kinase from the cancer cells, with potencies in line with the measured GI50 values. In contrast, the cellular effects of congener 21a, which inhibited Clk1 only weakly, were substantially lower.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b01915

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b01915

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