Publications | Discovery of Type II Inhibitors of TGFbeta-Activated Kinase 1 (TAK1) and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase Kinase Kinase 2 (MAP4K2)

We developed a pharmacophore model for type II inhibitors that was used to guide the construction of a library of kinase inhibitors. Kinome-wide selectivity profiling of the library resulted in the identification of a series of 4-substituted 1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridines that exhibited potent inhibitory activity against two mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), TAK1 (MAP3K7) and MAP4K2, as well as pharmacologically well interrogated kinases such as p38alpha (MAPK14) and ABL. Further investigation of the structure-activity relationship (SAR) resulted in the identification of potent dual TAK1 and MAP4K2 inhibitors such as 1 (NG25) and 2 as well as MAP4K2 selective inhibitors such as 16 and 17. Some of these inhibitors possess good pharmacokinetic properties that will enable their use in pharmacological studies in vivo. A 2.4 A cocrystal structure of TAK1 in complex with 1 confirms that the activation loop of TAK1 assumes the DFG-out conformation characteristic of type II inhibitors.

Principal Investigator(s):

Author(s):
Tan, L., Nomanbhoy, T., Gurbani, D., Patricelli, M., Hunter, J., Geng, J., Herhaus, L., Zhang, J., Pauls, E., Ham, Y., Choi, H. G., Xie, T., Deng, X., Buhrlage, S. J., Sim, T., Cohen, P., Sapkota, G., Westover, K. D., Gray, N. S.

PubMed:
25075558
Citation:
Tan, L., Nomanbhoy, T., Gurbani, D., Patricelli, M., Hunter, J., Geng, J., Herhaus, L., Zhang, J., Pauls, E., Ham, Y., Choi, H. G., Xie, T., Deng, X., Buhrlage, S. J., Sim, T., Cohen, P., Sapkota, G., Westover, K. D., Gray, N. S.
J Med Chem
2015
58
183-196
PMID: 25075558