2. Academic Validation
  3. Discovery of IHMT-337 as a potent irreversible EZH2 inhibitor targeting CDK4 transcription for malignancies

Discovery of IHMT-337 as a potent irreversible EZH2 inhibitor targeting CDK4 transcription for malignancies

  • Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2023 Jan 16;8(1):18. doi: 10.1038/s41392-022-01240-3.
Husheng Mei # 1 2,  Hong Wu # 1 3,  Jing Yang # 1 3,  Bin Zhou # 1 2,  Aoli Wang 1 3,  Chen Hu 1 3,  Shuang Qi 1 3,  Zongru Jiang 1 3,  Fengming Zou 1 3,  Beilei Wang 1 3,  Feiyang Liu 1 3,  Yongfei Chen 1 3,  Wenchao Wang 4 5,  Jing Liu 6 7,  Qingsong Liu 8 9 10 11
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Medical Physics and Technology, Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China.
  • 2 University of Science and Technology of China, 230026, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China.
  • 3 Hefei Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China.
  • 4 Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Medical Physics and Technology, Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China. wwcbox@hmfl.ac.cn.
  • 5 Hefei Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China. wwcbox@hmfl.ac.cn.
  • 6 Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Medical Physics and Technology, Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China. jingliu@hmfl.ac.cn.
  • 7 Hefei Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China. jingliu@hmfl.ac.cn.
  • 8 Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Medical Physics and Technology, Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China. qsliu97@hmfl.ac.cn.
  • 9 University of Science and Technology of China, 230026, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China. qsliu97@hmfl.ac.cn.
  • 10 Hefei Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China. qsliu97@hmfl.ac.cn.
  • 11 Precision Medicine Research Laboratory of Anhui Province, 230088, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China. qsliu97@hmfl.ac.cn.
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 36642705 DOI: 10.1038/s41392-022-01240-3
Abstract

Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), an enzymatic subunit of PRC2 complex, plays an important role in tumor development and progression through its catalytic and noncatalytic activities. Overexpression or gain-of-function mutations of EZH2 have been significantly associated with tumor cell proliferation of triple-negative breast Cancer (TNBC) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). As a result, it has gained interest as a potential therapeutic target. The currently available EZH2 inhibitors, such as EPZ6438 and GSK126, are of benefit for clinical using or reached clinical trials. However, certain cancers are resistant to these enzymatic inhibitors due to its noncatalytic or transcriptional activity through modulating nonhistone proteins. Thus, it may be more effective to synergistically degrade EZH2 in addition to enzymatic inhibition. Here, through a rational design and chemical screening, we discovered a new irreversible EZH2 Inhibitor, IHMT-337, which covalently bounds to and degrades EZH2 via the E3 Ligase CHIP-mediated ubiquitination pathway. Moreover, we revealed that IHMT-337 affects cell cycle progression in TNBC cells through targeting transcriptional regulating of CDK4, a novel PRC2 complex- and enzymatic activity-independent function of EZH2. More significantly, our compound inhibits both DLBCL and TNBC cell proliferation in different preclinical models in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that in addition to enzymatic inhibition, destroying of EZH2 by IHMT-337 could be a promising therapeutic strategy for TNBC and other malignancies that are independent of EZH2 enzymatic activity.

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