Discovery of a Novel and Potent Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 8/19 (CDK8/19) Inhibitor for the Treatment of Cancer

作者：Jianyu Xu, Hongyun Qi, Zhen Wang, Ling Wang, Barbara Steurer, Xin Cai, Jinxin Liu, Alex Aliper, Man Zhang, Feng Ren, Alex Zhavoronkov, Xiao Ding · 发表于：Journal of Medicinal Chemistry · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00248 · 被引用次数：14 · 研究领域：Advanced Breast Cancer Therapies、Lung Cancer Research Studies、Cancer-related Molecular Pathways

The mediator kinases CDK8 and CDK19 control the dynamic transcription of selected genes in response to various signals and have been shown to be hijacked to sustain hyperproliferation by various solid and liquid tumors. CDK8/19 is emerging as a promising anticancer therapeutic target. Here, we report the discovery of compound 12, a novel small molecule CDK8/19 inhibitor. This molecule demonstrated not only decent enzymatic and cellular activities but also remarkable selectivity in CDK and kinome panels. Besides, compound 12 also displayed favorable ADME profiles including low CYP1A2 inhibition, acceptable clearance, and high oral bioavailability in multiple preclinical species. Robust in vivo PD and efficacy studies in mice models further demonstrated its potential use as mono- and combination therapy for the treatment of cancers.