Discovery of N-benzylbenzamide-based allosteric inhibitors of Aurora kinase A.

Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry 2024 Mar 15

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Aurora kinases (AurkA/B/C) regulate the assembly of bipolar mitotic spindles and the fidelity of chromosome segregation during mitosis, and are attractive therapeutic targets for cancers. Numerous ATP-competitive AurkA inhibitors have been developed as potential anti-cancer agents. Recently, a few allosteric inhibitors have been reported that bind to the allosteric Y-pocket within AurkA kinase domain and disrupt the interaction between AurkA and its activator TPX2. Herein we report a novel allosteric AurkA inhibitor (6h) of N-benzylbenzamide backbone. Compound 6h suppressed the both catalytic activity and non-catalytic functions of AurkA. The inhibitory activity of 6h against AurkA (IC50 = 6.50 μM) was comparable to that of the most potent allosteric AurkA inhibitor AurkinA. Docking analysis against the Y-pocket revealed important pharmacophores and interactions that were coherent with structure-activity relationship. In addition, 6h suppressed DNA replication in G1-S phase, which is a feature of allosteric inhibition of AurA. Our current study may provide a useful insight in designing potent allosteric AurkA inhibitors. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Hyomin Lee, Euijung Kim, Narae Hwang, Jesik Yoo, Yunju Nam, Injeoung Hwang, Jin-Gyeong Park, Sang-Eun Park, Kyung-Sook Chung, Hwan Won Chung, Chiman Song, Mi-Jung Ji, Hyun-Mee Park, In-Kyun Lee, Kyung-Tae Lee, Eun Joo Roh, Wooyoung Hur. Discovery of N-benzylbenzamide-based allosteric inhibitors of Aurora kinase A. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry. 2024 Mar 15;102:117658