Discovery of N-substituted 7-azaindoles as Pan-PIM kinase inhibitors - Lead series identification - Part II.

N-Substituted azaindoles have been discovered as pan-PIM kinase inhibitors. Initial SAR, early ADME and PK/PD data of a series of compounds is described and led to the identification of promising pan-PIM inhibitors which validated our interest in the 7-azaindole scaffold and led us to pursue the identification of a clinical candidate.

Discovery and identification of PIM-1 kinase inhibitors through a hybrid screening approach.

PIM-1 kinase is an important therapeutic target in the treatment of cancer. Discovery and identification of PIM-1 Inhibitors with novel scaffolds are an effective way for developing potent therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancers. Here we proposed a hybrid screening approach which combines an optimal structure-based drug design strategy and a simple pharmacophore model to discover PIM-1 kinase inhibitors. With the proposed hybrid screening approach, the SPECS database containing 204,580 molecules was screened. In total, 89 hits were obtained. Forty three of them were purchased and tested in bioassays. Finally, 5 lead compounds with novel scaffolds were identified to exhibit promising antitumor activities against human leukemia cell line MV4-11, K-562 and human prostate cancer cell line PC-3 and DU145. Their IC(50) values range from 4.40 to 37.96 µM. Three hits with 3 different scaffolds were selected from these five hits for binding mode analysis. It was demonstrated that the subtle differences in the interactions of the representatives with PIM-1 kinase contribute to the different inhibitory activities. It was also demonstrated that the suggested hybrid screening approach is an effective method to discover PIM-1 inhibitors possessing different scaffolds. These leads have a strong likelihood to act as further starting points for us in the optimization and development of potent PIM-1 inhibitors.

A novel Pim-1 kinase inhibitor targeting residues that bind the substrate peptide.

A new screening method using fluorescent correlation spectroscopy was developed to select kinase inhibitors that competitively inhibit the binding of a fluorescently labeled substrate peptide. Using the method, among approximately 700 candidate compounds selected by virtual screening, we identified a novel Pim-1 kinase inhibitor targeting its peptide binding residues. X-ray crystal analysis of the complex structure of Pim-1 with the inhibitor indicated that the inhibitor actually binds to the ATP-binding site and also forms direct interactions with residues (Asp128 and Glu171) that bind the substrate peptide. These interactions, which cause small side-chain movements, seem to affect the binding ability of the fluorescently labeled substrate. The compound inhibited Pim-1 kinase in vitro, with an IC(50) value of 150 nM. Treatment of cultured leukemia cells with the compound reduced the amount of p21 and increased the amount of p27, due to Pim-1 inhibition, and then triggered apoptosis after cell-cycle arrest at the G(1)/S phase. This screening method may be widely applicable for the identification of various new Pim-1 kinase inhibitors targeting the residues that bind the substrate peptide.

Discovery of novel Pim-1 kinase inhibitors by a hierarchical multistage virtual screening approach based on SVM model, pharmacophore, and molecular docking.

In this investigation, we describe the discovery of novel potent Pim-1 inhibitors by employing a proposed hierarchical multistage virtual screening (VS) approach, which is based on support vector machine-based (SVM-based VS or SB-VS), pharmacophore-based VS (PB-VS), and docking-based VS (DB-VS) methods. In this approach, the three VS methods are applied in an increasing order of complexity so that the first filter (SB-VS) is fast and simple, while successive ones (PB-VS and DB-VS) are more time-consuming but are applied only to a small subset of the entire database. Evaluation of this approach indicates that it can be used to screen a large chemical library rapidly with a high hit rate and a high enrichment factor. This approach was then applied to screen several large chemical libraries, including PubChem, Specs, and Enamine as well as an in-house database. From the final hits, 47 compounds were selected for further in vitro Pim-1 inhibitory assay, and 15 compounds show nanomolar level or low micromolar inhibition potency against Pim-1. In particular, four of them were found to have new scaffolds which have potential for the chemical development of Pim-1 inhibitors.