ABSTRACT
A novel pyrrole-2-carboxamide series of p38alpha inhibitors, discovered through the application of virtual screening, is presented. Following evaluation of activity, selectivity and developability properties of commercially available analogues, a synthesis program enabled rapid assessment of the series' suitability for further lead optimisation studies.
Subject(s)
Amides/pharmacology , Drug Discovery , Protein Kinase Inhibitors/pharmacology , Pyrroles/chemistry , p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/antagonists & inhibitors , Amides/chemical synthesis , Amides/chemistry , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , High-Throughput Screening Assays , Molecular Structure , Protein Kinase Inhibitors/chemical synthesis , Protein Kinase Inhibitors/chemistry , Stereoisomerism , Structure-Activity RelationshipABSTRACT
The biphenyl amides (BPAs) are a series of p38alpha MAP kinase inhibitors. Compounds are able to bind to the kinase in either the DFG-in or DFG-out conformation, depending on substituents. X-ray, binding, kinetic and cellular data are shown, providing the most detailed comparison to date between potent compounds from the same chemical series that bind to different p38alpha conformations. DFG-out-binding compounds could be made more potent than DFG-in-binding compounds by increasing their size. Unexpectedly, compounds that bound to the DGF-out conformation showed diminished selectivity. The kinetics of binding to the isolated enzyme and the effects of compounds on cells were largely unaffected by the kinase conformation bound.