Discovery of Roblitinib (FGF401) as a Reversible-Covalent Inhibitor of the Kinase Activity of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 4
作者:Robin A. Fairhurst、Thomas Knoepfel、Nicole Buschmann、Catherine Leblanc、Robert Mah、Milen Todorov、Pierre Nimsgern、Sebastien Ripoche、Michel Niklaus、Nicolas Warin、Van Huy Luu、Mario Madoerin、Jasmin Wirth、Diana Graus-Porta、Andreas Weiss、Michael Kiffe、Markus Wartmann、Jacqueline Kinyamu-Akunda、Dario Sterker、Christelle Stamm、Flavia Adler、Alexandra Buhles、Heiko Schadt、Philippe Couttet、Jutta Blank、Inga Galuba、Jörg Trappe、Johannes Voshol、Nils Ostermann、Chao Zou、Jörg Berghausen、Alberto Del Rio Espinola、Wolfgang Jahnke、Pascal Furet
DOI:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c01019
日期:2020.11.12
FGF19 signaling through the FGFR4/beta-klotho receptor complex has been shown to be a key driver of growth and survival in a subset of hepatocellular carcinomas, making selective FGFR4 inhibition an attractive treatment opportunity. A kinome-wide sequence alignment highlighted a poorly conserved cysteine residue within the FGFR4 ATP-binding site at position 552, two positions beyond the gate-keeper residue. Several strategies for targeting this cysteine to identify FGFR4 selective inhibitor starting points are summarized which made use of both rational and unbiased screening approaches. The optimization of a 2-formylquinoline amide hit series is described in which the aldehyde makes a hemithioacetal reversible-covalent interaction with cysteine 552. Key challenges addressed during the optimization are improving the FGFR4 potency, metabolic stability, and solubility leading ultimately to the highly selective first-in-class clinical candidate roblitinib.