The concept of photocaging represents a promising approach to acquire spatiotemporal control over molecular bioactivity. To apply this strategy to pyridinylimidazole-based covalent JNK3 inhibitors, we used acrylamido-N-(4-((4-(4-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-methyl-2-(methylthio)-1H-imidazol-5-yl)pyridin-2-yl)amino)phenyl)benzamide (1) as a lead compound to design novel covalent inhibitors of JNK3 by modifying the amide bond moiety in the linker. The newly synthesized inhibitors demonstrated IC50 values in the low double-digit nanomolar range in a radiometric kinase assay. They were further characterized in a NanoBRETTM intracellular JNK3 assay, where covalent engagement of the target enzyme was confirmed by compound washout experiments and a loss in binding affinity for a newly generated JNK3(C154A)-NLuc mutant. The most potent compound of the series, N-(3-acrylamidophenyl)-4-((4-(4-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-methyl-2-(methylthio)-1H-imidazol-5-yl)pyridin-2-yl)amino)benzamide (13), was equipped with a photolabile protecting group leading to a nearly 10-fold decrease in intracellular JNK3 binding affinity, which was fully recovered by UV irradiation at a wavelength of 365 nm within 8 min. Our results highlight that photocaged covalent inhibitors can serve as a pharmacological tool to control JNK3 activity in live cells with light.
光成像的概念是一种对分子生物活性进行时空控制的有效方法。为了将这一策略应用于基于吡啶基咪唑的共价 JNK3 抑制剂,我们以丙烯酰胺基-N-(4-((4-(4-(4-氟苯基)-1-甲基-2-(甲硫基)-1H-咪唑-5-基)吡啶-2-基)氨基)苯基)苯甲酰胺 (1) 为先导化合物,通过修饰连接体中的酰胺键分子,设计出新型共价 JNK3 抑制剂。新合成的抑制剂在辐射激酶测定中的 IC50 值在两位数纳摩尔范围内。它们在 NanoBRETTM 细胞内 JNK3 检测中得到了进一步表征,通过化合物冲洗实验和对新生成的 JNK3(C154A)-NLuc 突变体的结合亲和力损失,证实了它们与目标酶的共价结合。该系列中最有效的化合物 N-(3-丙烯酰胺基苯基)-4-((4-(4-(4-氟苯基)-1-甲基-2-(甲硫基)-1H-咪唑-5-基)吡啶-2-基)氨基)苯甲酰胺 (13)带有光敏保护基团,导致细胞内 JNK3 结合亲和力下降了近 10 倍,在波长为 365 纳米的紫外线照射下,该亲和力在 8 分钟内完全恢复。我们的研究结果突出表明,光固化共价抑制剂可以作为一种药理学工具,用光来控制活细胞中 JNK3 的活性。