Structure-Guided Optimization Provides a Series of TTK Protein Inhibitors with Potent Antitumor Activity

J Med Chem. 2021 Sep 9;64(17):12670-12679. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c00635. Epub 2021 Aug 30.

Abstract

TTK is an essential spindle assembly checkpoint enzyme in many organisms. It plays a central role in tumor cell proliferation and is aberrantly overexpressed in a wide range of tumor types. We recently reported on a series of potent and selective TTK inhibitors with strong antiproliferative activity in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines (8: TTK IC50 = 3.0 nM; CAL-51 IC50 = 84.0 nM). Inspired by previously described potent tricyclic TTK inhibitor 6 (TTK IC50 = 0.9 nM), we embarked on a structure-enabled design and optimization campaign to identify an improved series with excellent potency, TTK selectivity, solubility, CYP inhibition profile, and in vivo efficacy in a TNBC xenograft model. These efforts culminated in the discovery of 25 (TTK IC50 = 3.0 nM; CAL-51 IC50 = 16.0 nM), which showed significant single-agent efficacy when dosed iv in a TNBC xenograft model without body weight loss.

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Breast Neoplasms
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / drug effects
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Molecular Structure
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • TTK protein, human