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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Christopher Wong, Dr Ian HardcastleORCiD, Christopher Matheson, Professor Herbie Newell, Dr Mangaleswaran Sivaprakasam, Huw ThomasORCiD, Lan Wang, Professor Roger Griffin, Emeritus Professor Bernard Golding, Dr Celine CanoORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Nek2 (NIMA-related kinase 2) is a cell cycle-dependent serine/threonine protein kinase that regulates centrosome separation at the onset of mitosis. Overexpression of Nek2 is common in human cancers and suppression can restrict tumor cell growth and promote apoptosis. Nek2 inhibition with small molecules, therefore, offers the prospect of a new therapy for cancer. To achieve this goal, a better understanding of the requirements for selective-inhibition of Nek2 is required. 6-Alkoxypurines were identified as ATP-competitive inhibitors of Nek2 and CDK2. Comparison with CDK2-inhibitor structures indicated that judicious modification of the 6-alkoxy and 2-arylamino substituents could achieve discrimination between Nek2 and CDK2. In this study, a library of 6-cyclohexylmethoxy-2-arylaminopurines bearing carboxamide, sulfonamide and urea substituents on the 2-arylamino ring was synthesized. Few of these compounds were selective for Nek2 over CDK2, with the best result being obtained for 3-((6-(cyclohexylmethoxy)-9H-purin-2-yl)amino)-N,N-dimethylbenzamide (CDK2 IC50 = 7.0 μM; Nek2 IC50 = 0.62 μM) with >10-fold selectivity. Deletion of the 6-substituent abrogated activity against both Nek2 and CDK2. Nine compounds containing an (E)-dialkylaminovinyl substituent at C-6, all showed selectivity for Nek2, e.g. (E)-6-(2-(azepan-1-yl)vinyl)-N-phenyl-9H-purin-2-amine (CDK2 IC50 = 2.70 μM; Nek2 IC50 = 0.27 μM). Structural biology of selected compounds enabled a partial rationalization of the observed structure activity relationships and mechanism of Nek2 activation. This showed that carboxamide 11 is the first reported inhibitor of Nek2 in the DFG-in conformation.
Author(s): Coxon RC, Wong C, Bayliss R, Boxall K, Carr KH, Fry AM, Hardcastle IR, Matheson CJ, Newell DR, Sivaprakasam M, Thomas H, Turner D, Yeoh S, Wang LZ, Griffin RJ, Golding BT, Cano C
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Oncotarget
Year: 2017
Volume: 8
Pages: 19089-19124
Print publication date: 09/11/2016
Online publication date: 09/11/2016
Acceptance date: 17/10/2016
Date deposited: 16/01/2017
ISSN (electronic): 1949-2553
Publisher: Impact Journal LLC
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.13249
DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.13249
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