Article
作者: Qi, Yunyue ; Qiu, Hongxia ; Liu, Xiaofeng ; Chen, Shuai ; Chen, Bo ; Li, Yi ; Tu, Yifan ; Xu, Zhiheng ; Wu, Jun ; Yang, June ; Yan, Zhipeng ; Tan, Xuefei ; Yang, Juhao ; Shen, Hong C. ; Jiang, Tianyi ; Xu, Jiasu ; Huang, Ke ; Zhu, Sining ; Dey, Fabian ; Zhao, Dan ; Dai, Yu ; Wang, Summer ; Li, Chiho ; Zhu, Wei ; Tang, Yang ; Yao, XiangYu ; Mu, Tong
PKMYT1 is a crucial regulator of the cell cycle, particularly involved in the G2/M transition through the inhibitory phosphorylation of CDK1, and is a promising therapeutic target for cancer therapy. Data mining in the Roche kinome screen database identified a hit characterized by 100% PKMYT1 inhibitory activity at a 10 μM concentration, which was further validated with a PKMYT1 enzymatic assay showing double-digit nanomolar potency. The hit featured a quinolinone central core and a phenol headgroup. The replacement of the problematic phenol headgroup with an indazole moiety induced a flip in the kinase hinge cysteine and glycine residues, resulting in a series of derivatives with enhanced potency, superior kinome selectivity, and no GSH flag. Further structural fine-tuning led to the discovery of compound 36, a novel, selective, and potent PKMYT1 inhibitor with favorable oral pharmacokinetic profiles and promising in vivo antitumor efficacy.