Discovery of Diaminopyrimidine Carboxamide HPK1 Inhibitors as Preclinical Immunotherapy Tool Compounds.

Hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1), a serine/threonine kinase, is a negative immune regulator of T cell receptor (TCR) and B cell signaling that is primarily expressed in hematopoietic cells. Accordingly, it has been reported that HPK1 loss-of-function in HPK1 kinase-dead syngeneic mouse models shows enhanced T cell signaling and cytokine production as well as tumor growth inhibition in vivo, supporting its value as an immunotherapeutic target. Herein, we present the structurally enabled discovery of novel, potent, and selective diaminopyrimidine carboxamide HPK1 inhibitors. The key discovery of a carboxamide moiety was essential for enhanced enzyme inhibitory potency and kinome selectivity as well as sustained elevation of cellular IL-2 production across a titration range in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The elucidation of structure-activity relationships using various pendant amino ring systems allowed for the identification of several small molecule type-I inhibitors with promising in vitro profiles. © 2021 American Chemical Society.

Citation

Brandon A Vara, Samuel M Levi, Abdelghani Achab, David A Candito, Xavier Fradera, Charles A Lesburg, Shuhei Kawamura, Brian M Lacey, Jongwon Lim, Joey L Methot, Zangwei Xu, Haiyan Xu, Dustin M Smith, Jennifer A Piesvaux, J Richard Miller, Mark Bittinger, Sheila H Ranganath, David J Bennett, Erin F DiMauro, Alexander Pasternak. Discovery of Diaminopyrimidine Carboxamide HPK1 Inhibitors as Preclinical Immunotherapy Tool Compounds. ACS medicinal chemistry letters. 2021 Apr 08;12(4):653-661

PMID: 33859804

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