2. Academic Validation
  3. Discovery of a 1,6-naphthyridin-4-one-based AXL inhibitor with improved pharmacokinetics and enhanced in vivo antitumor efficacy

Discovery of a 1,6-naphthyridin-4-one-based AXL inhibitor with improved pharmacokinetics and enhanced in vivo antitumor efficacy

  • Eur J Med Chem. 2024 Feb 5:265:116045. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2023.116045.
Yaohan Lan 1,  Xia Peng 2,  Yinchun Ji 2,  Yi Su 2,  Wenhu Duan 3,  Jing Ai 4,  Hefeng Zhang 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 555 Zu Chong Zhi Road, Shanghai, 201203, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China.
  • 2 Division of Antitumor Pharmacology, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 555 Zu Chong Zhi Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
  • 3 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 555 Zu Chong Zhi Road, Shanghai, 201203, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China; Shandong Laboratory of Yantai Drug Discovery, Bohai Rim Advanced Research Institute for Drug Discovery, Yantai, Shandong, 264117, China.
  • 4 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China; Division of Antitumor Pharmacology, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 555 Zu Chong Zhi Road, Shanghai, 201203, China. Electronic address: jai@simm.ac.cn.
  • 5 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 555 Zu Chong Zhi Road, Shanghai, 201203, China. Electronic address: zhanghefeng1@simm.ac.cn.
PMID: 38128234 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2023.116045
Abstract

The receptor tyrosine kinase Axl has emerged as an attractive target in Anticancer drug discovery. Herein, we described the discovery of a new series of 1,6-naphthyridin-4-one derivatives as potent Axl inhibitors. Starting from a low in vivo potency compound 9 which was previously reported by our group, we utilized structure-based drug design and scaffold hopping strategies to discover potent Axl inhibitors. The privileged compound 13c was a highly potent and orally bioavailable Axl Inhibitor with an IC50 value of 3.2 ± 0.3 nM. Compound 13c exhibited significantly improved in vivo antitumor efficacy in AXL-driven tumor xenograft mice, causing tumor regression at well-tolerated dose, and demonstrated favorable pharmacokinetic properties (MRT = 16.5 h, AUC0-∞ = 59,815 ng h/mL) in Sprague-Dawley rats. These results suggest that 13c is a promising therapeutic candidate for AXL-targeting Cancer treatment.

Keywords

1,6-Naphthyridin-4-one derivatives; AXL inhibitor; In vivo antitumor efficacy; Scaffold hopping; Structure-based drug design.

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