Preclinical characterization of pirtobrutinib, a highly selective, noncovalent (reversible) BTK inhibitor.

Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK), a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase, is a major therapeutic target for B-cell-driven malignancies. However, approved covalent BTK inhibitors (cBTKis) are associated with treatment limitations because of off-target side effects, suboptimal oral pharmacology, and development of resistance mutations (eg, C481) that prevent inhibitor binding. Here, we describe the preclinical profile of pirtobrutinib, a potent, highly selective, noncovalent (reversible) BTK inhibitor. Pirtobrutinib binds BTK with an extensive network of interactions to BTK and water molecules in the adenosine triphosphate binding region and shows no direct interaction with C481. Consequently, pirtobrutinib inhibits both BTK and BTK C481 substitution mutants in enzymatic and cell-based assays with similar potencies. In differential scanning fluorimetry studies, BTK bound to pirtobrutinib exhibited a higher melting temperature than cBTKi-bound BTK. Pirtobrutinib, but not cBTKis, prevented Y551 phosphorylation in the activation loop. These data suggest that pirtobrutinib uniquely stabilizes BTK in a closed, inactive conformation. Pirtobrutinib inhibits BTK signaling and cell proliferation in multiple B-cell lymphoma cell lines, and significantly inhibits tumor growth in human lymphoma xenografts in vivo. Enzymatic profiling showed that pirtobrutinib was highly selective for BTK in >98% of the human kinome, and in follow-up cellular studies pirtobrutinib retained >100-fold selectivity over other tested kinases. Collectively, these findings suggest that pirtobrutinib represents a novel BTK inhibitor with improved selectivity and unique pharmacologic, biophysical, and structural attributes with the potential to treat B-cell-driven cancers with improved precision and tolerability. Pirtobrutinib is being tested in phase 3 clinical studies for a variety of B-cell malignancies.

Discovery and SAR of spirochromane Akt inhibitors.

A novel series of spirochromane pan-Akt inhibitors is reported. SAR optimization furnished compounds with improved enzyme potencies and excellent selectivity over the related AGC kinase PKA. Attempted replacement of the phenol hinge binder provided compounds with excellent Akt enzyme and cell activities but greatly diminished selectivity over PKA.

Discovery of spirocyclic sulfonamides as potent Akt inhibitors with exquisite selectivity against PKA.

We describe the design and synthesis of novel bicyclic spiro sulfonamides as potent Akt inhibitors. Through structure-based rational design, we have successfully improved PKA selectivity of previously disclosed spirochromanes. Representative compounds showed favorable Akt potency while exhibiting up to 1000-fold selectivity against PKA.

Discovery of pyrrolopyrimidine inhibitors of Akt.

The discovery and optimization of a series of pyrrolopyrimidine based protein kinase B (Pkb/Akt) inhibitors discovered via HTS and structure based drug design is reported. The compounds demonstrate potent inhibition of all three Akt isoforms and knockdown of phospho-PRAS40 levels in LNCaP cells and tumor xenografts.

A Next-Generation TRK Kinase Inhibitor Overcomes Acquired Resistance to Prior TRK Kinase Inhibition in Patients with TRK Fusion-Positive Solid Tumors.

Larotrectinib, a selective TRK tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), has demonstrated histology-agnostic efficacy in patients with TRK fusion-positive cancers. Although responses to TRK inhibition can be dramatic and durable, duration of response may eventually be limited by acquired resistance. LOXO-195 is a selective TRK TKI designed to overcome acquired resistance mediated by recurrent kinase domain (solvent front and xDFG) mutations identified in multiple patients who have developed resistance to TRK TKIs. Activity against these acquired mutations was confirmed in enzyme and cell-based assays and in vivo tumor models. As clinical proof of concept, the first 2 patients with TRK fusion-positive cancers who developed acquired resistance mutations on larotrectinib were treated with LOXO-195 on a first-in-human basis, utilizing rapid dose titration guided by pharmacokinetic assessments. This approach led to rapid tumor responses and extended the overall duration of disease control achieved with TRK inhibition in both patients.Significance: LOXO-195 abrogated resistance in TRK fusion-positive cancers that acquired kinase domain mutations, a shared liability with all existing TRK TKIs. This establishes a role for sequential treatment by demonstrating continued TRK dependence and validates a paradigm for the accelerated development of next-generation inhibitors against validated oncogenic targets. Cancer Discov; 7(9); 963-72. ©2017 AACR.See related commentary by Parikh and Corcoran, p. 934This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 920.

An ATP-site on-off switch that restricts phosphatase accessibility of Akt.

The protein serine-threonine kinase Akt undergoes a substantial conformational change upon activation, which is induced by the phosphorylation of two critical regulatory residues, threonine 308 and serine 473. Paradoxically, treating cells with adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP)-competitive inhibitors of Akt results in increased phosphorylation of both residues. We show that binding of ATP-competitive inhibitors stabilized a conformation in which both phosphorylated sites were inaccessible to phosphatases. ATP binding also produced this protection of the phosphorylated sites, whereas interaction with its hydrolysis product adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP) or allosteric Akt inhibitors resulted in increased accessibility of these phosphorylated residues. ATP-competitive inhibitors mimicked ATP by targeting active Akt. Forms of Akt activated by an oncogenic mutation or myristoylation were more potently inhibited by the ATP-competitive inhibitors than was wild-type Akt. These data support a new model of kinase regulation, wherein nucleotides modulate an on-off switch in Akt through conformational changes, which is disrupted by ATP-competitive inhibitors.