Allosteric inhibition of SHP2 phosphatase inhibits cancers driven by receptor tyrosine kinases.

The non-receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2, encoded by PTPN11, has an important role in signal transduction downstream of growth factor receptor signalling and was the first reported oncogenic tyrosine phosphatase. Activating mutations of SHP2 have been associated with developmental pathologies such as Noonan syndrome and are found in multiple cancer types, including leukaemia, lung and breast cancer and neuroblastoma. SHP2 is ubiquitously expressed and regulates cell survival and proliferation primarily through activation of the RAS­ERK signalling pathway. It is also a key mediator of the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) immune checkpoint pathways. Reduction of SHP2 activity suppresses tumour cell growth and is a potential target of cancer therapy. Here we report the discovery of a highly potent (IC50 = 0.071 µM), selective and orally bioavailable small-molecule SHP2 inhibitor, SHP099, that stabilizes SHP2 in an auto-inhibited conformation. SHP099 concurrently binds to the interface of the N-terminal SH2, C-terminal SH2, and protein tyrosine phosphatase domains, thus inhibiting SHP2 activity through an allosteric mechanism. SHP099 suppresses RAS­ERK signalling to inhibit the proliferation of receptor-tyrosine-kinase-driven human cancer cells in vitro and is efficacious in mouse tumour xenograft models. Together, these data demonstrate that pharmacological inhibition of SHP2 is a valid therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancers.

Identification of TNO155, an Allosteric SHP2 Inhibitor for the Treatment of Cancer.

SHP2 is a nonreceptor protein tyrosine phosphatase encoded by the PTPN11 gene and is involved in cell growth and differentiation via the MAPK signaling pathway. SHP2 also plays an important role in the programed cell death pathway (PD-1/PD-L1). As an oncoprotein as well as a potential immunomodulator, controlling SHP2 activity is of high therapeutic interest. As part of our comprehensive program targeting SHP2, we identified multiple allosteric binding modes of inhibition and optimized numerous chemical scaffolds in parallel. In this drug annotation report, we detail the identification and optimization of the pyrazine class of allosteric SHP2 inhibitors. Structure and property based drug design enabled the identification of protein-ligand interactions, potent cellular inhibition, control of physicochemical, pharmaceutical and selectivity properties, and potent in vivo antitumor activity. These studies culminated in the discovery of TNO155, (3S,4S)-8-(6-amino-5-((2-amino-3-chloropyridin-4-yl)thio)pyrazin-2-yl)-3-methyl-2-oxa-8-azaspiro[4.5]decan-4-amine (1), a highly potent, selective, orally efficacious, and first-in-class SHP2 inhibitor currently in clinical trials for cancer.

"Addition" and "Subtraction": Selectivity Design for Type II Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase Inhibitors.

While adding the structural features that are more favored by on-target activity is the more common strategy in selectivity optimization, the opposite strategy of subtracting the structural features that contribute more to off-target activity can also be very effective. Reported here is our successful effort of improving the kinase selectivity of type II maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase inhibitors by applying these two complementary approaches together, which clearly demonstrates the powerful synergy between them.

Fluorous Synthesis of Hydantoin-, Piperazinedione-, and Benzodiazepinedione-Fused Tricyclic and Tetracyclic Ring Systems.

Fluorous proline derivatives generated from one-pot, three-component [3+2] cycloaddition of azomethine ylides are employed for different post-condensation reactions to form hydantoin-, piperazinedione-, and benzodiazepinedione-fused tricyclic and tetracyclic ring systems. The high synthetic efficiency is achieved by conducting fast microwave reactions and easy fluorous-solid phase extractions for reaction mixture purifications. Methods developed for these novel drug-like heterocyclic compounds can be applied to diversity-oriented library synthesis.

Allosteric Inhibition of SHP2: Identification of a Potent, Selective, and Orally Efficacious Phosphatase Inhibitor.

SHP2 is a nonreceptor protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) encoded by the PTPN11 gene involved in cell growth and differentiation via the MAPK signaling pathway. SHP2 also purportedly plays an important role in the programmed cell death pathway (PD-1/PD-L1). Because it is an oncoprotein associated with multiple cancer-related diseases, as well as a potential immunomodulator, controlling SHP2 activity is of significant therapeutic interest. Recently in our laboratories, a small molecule inhibitor of SHP2 was identified as an allosteric modulator that stabilizes the autoinhibited conformation of SHP2. A high throughput screen was performed to identify progressable chemical matter, and X-ray crystallography revealed the location of binding in a previously undisclosed allosteric binding pocket. Structure-based drug design was employed to optimize for SHP2 inhibition, and several new protein-ligand interactions were characterized. These studies culminated in the discovery of 6-(4-amino-4-methylpiperidin-1-yl)-3-(2,3-dichlorophenyl)pyrazin-2-amine (SHP099, 1), a potent, selective, orally bioavailable, and efficacious SHP2 inhibitor.

FluoMar, a fluorous version of the Marshall resin for solution-phase library synthesis.

[structure: see text] The fluorous counterpart of the Marshall resin, 4-(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecylsulfanyl)phenol (FluoMar), is prepared by S-alkylation of 4-mercaptophenol with C(8)F(17)CH(2)CH(2)I and employed in the synthesis of amide and diamide analogues. The final products are purified by solid-phase extraction (SPE) over FluoroFlash silica cartridges.

A highly efficient microwave-assisted suzuki coupling reaction of aryl perfluorooctylsulfonates with boronic acids.

[reaction: see text] A new strategy to improve the efficiency of Suzuki coupling reactions is introduced by combining fast microwave reaction with easy fluorous separation. Aryl perfluorooctylsulfonates derived from the corresponding phenols are coupled with aryl boronic acids to form biaryls under general microwave conditions. Both intermediates and products are purified by solid-phase extraction over FluoroFlash silica gel. Application of this tagging strategy to multistep synthesis of biaryl-substituted hydantoin is also described.

Identification of NVP-TNKS656: the use of structure-efficiency relationships to generate a highly potent, selective, and orally active tankyrase inhibitor.

Tankyrase 1 and 2 have been shown to be redundant, druggable nodes in the Wnt pathway. As such, there has been intense interest in developing agents suitable for modulating the Wnt pathway in vivo by targeting this enzyme pair. By utilizing a combination of structure-based design and LipE-based structure efficiency relationships, the core of XAV939 was optimized into a more stable, more efficient, but less potent dihydropyran motif 7. This core was combined with elements of screening hits 2, 19, and 33 and resulted in highly potent, selective tankyrase inhibitors that are novel three pocket binders. NVP-TNKS656 (43) was identified as an orally active antagonist of Wnt pathway activity in the MMTV-Wnt1 mouse xenograft model. With an enthalpy-driven thermodynamic signature of binding, highly favorable physicochemical properties, and high lipophilic efficiency, NVP-TNKS656 is a novel tankyrase inhibitor that is well suited for further in vivo validation studies.

Fragment-Based Discovery of 7-Azabenzimidazoles as Potent, Highly Selective, and Orally Active CDK4/6 Inhibitors.

Herein, we describe the discovery of potent and highly selective inhibitors of both CDK4 and CDK6 via structure-guided optimization of a fragment-based screening hit. CDK6 X-ray crystallography and pharmacokinetic data steered efforts in identifying compound 6, which showed >1000-fold selectivity for CDK4 over CDKs 1 and 2 in an enzymatic assay. Furthermore, 6 demonstrated in vivo inhibition of pRb-phosphorylation and oral efficacy in a Jeko-1 mouse xenograft model.

Fluorous reagents and scavengers versus solid-supported reagents and scavengers, a reaction rate and kinetic comparison.

Reactions using fluorous reagents and scavengers are compared side-by-side with their solid-supported counterparts. Fluorous triphenylphosphine is used in the bromination reaction of alcohols, fluorous thiol is used as an electrophile scavenger for alpha-bromoketones, fluorous isatoic anhydride is used as a nucleophile scavenger for primary and secondary amines. Reactions involving fluorous reagents and scavengers occur in homogeneous media with solution-phase reaction kinetics. Reactions with solid-supported reagents and scavengers occur in a heterogeneous media, and the reaction kinetics are greatly affected by the nature of the solid-support and reaction environment. Significantly larger amounts of reagents and more time are usually required to complete the solid-supported reaction.

Combination of microwave reactions with fluorous separations in the palladium-catalyzed synthesis of aryl sulfides.

Coupling of microwave reactions with fluorous separations can dramatically increase the efficiency of high-speed synthesis. Described in this paper is a fluorous synthesis of aryl sulfides by palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of aryl perfluoroalkylsulfonates (C8F17O2SOAr) with thiols (RSH) under microwave irradiation. Fluorous solid-phase extractions (F-SPE) are employed for the purification of reaction mixtures. No fluorous solvents are involved in reaction and separation processes. The fluorous synthesis is further extended to the multi-step synthesis of substituted hydantoin and amide scaffolds.

Solution-phase preparation of a 560-compound library of individual pure mappicine analogues by fluorous mixture synthesis.

Solution-phase mixture synthesis has efficiency advantages and favorable reaction kinetics. Applications of this technique, however, have been discouraged by the difficulty in obtaining individual, pure final products by using conventional separation and identification processes. Introduced here is a new strategy for mixture synthesis that addresses the separation and identification problems. Members of a series of organic substrates are paired with a series of fluorous tags of different chain lengths. The tagged starting materials are then mixed and taken through a multistep reaction process. Fluorous chromatography is used to demix the tagged product mixtures on the basis of the fluorine content of the tags to provide the individual pure components of the mixture, which are detagged to release the final products. The utility of fluorous mixture synthesis is demonstrated by the preparation of a 560-membered library of analogues of the natural product mappicine. A seven-component mixture is carried through a four-step mixture synthesis (two one-pot and two parallel steps) to incorporate two additional points of diversity onto the tetracyclic core. Methods for analysis and purification of the intermediates are established for the quality control of the mixture synthesis.