The molecular chaperone HSP90 plays a crucial role in cancer cell growth and survival by stabilizing cancer-related proteins. A number of HSP90 inhibitors have been developed clinically for cancer therapy; however, potential off-target and/or HSP90-related toxicities have proved problematic. The 4-(1H-pyrazolo [3,4-b]pyridine-1-yl)benzamide TAS-116 is a selective inhibitor of cytosolic HSP90a and b that does not inhibit HSP90 paralogs such as endoplasmic reticulum GRP94 or mitochondrial TRAP1. Oral administration of TAS-116 led to tumor shrinkage in human tumor xenograft mouse models accompanied by depletion of multiple HSP90 clients, demonstrating that the inhibition of HSP90a and b alone was sufficient to exert antitumor activity in certain tumor models. One of the most notable HSP90-related adverse events universally observed to differing degrees in the clinical setting is visual disturbance. A two-week administration of the isoxazole resorcinol NVP-AUY922, an HSP90 inhibitor, caused marked degeneration and disarrangement of the outer nuclear layer of the retina and induced photoreceptor cell death in rats. In contrast, TAS-116 did not produce detectable photoreceptor injury in rats, probably due to its lower distribution in retinal tissue. Importantly, in a rat model, the antitumor activity of TAS-116 was accompanied by a higher distribution of the compound in subcutaneously xenografted NCI-H1975 non-small cell lung carcinoma tumors than in retina. Moreover, TAS-116 showed activity against orthotopically transplanted NCI-H1975 lung tumors. Together, these data suggest that TAS-116 has a potential to maximize antitumor activity while minimizing adverse effects such as visual disturbances that are observed with other compounds of this class.

NEDD8-activating enzyme (NAE) is an essential E1 enzyme of the NEDD8 conjugation (neddylation) pathway, which controls cancer cell growth and survival through activation of cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase complexes (CRL). In this study, we describe the preclinical profile of a novel, highly potent, and selective NAE inhibitor, TAS4464. TAS4464 selectively inhibited NAE relative to the other E1s UAE and SAE. TAS4464 treatment inhibited cullin neddylation and subsequently induced the accumulation of CRL substrates such as CDT1, p27, and phosphorylated IkBa in human cancer cell lines. TAS4464 showed greater inhibitory effects than those of the known NAE inhibitor MLN4924 both in enzyme assay and in cells. Cytotoxicity profiling revealed that TAS4464 is highly potent with wide-spread antiproliferative activity not only for cancer cell lines, but also patient-derived tumor cells. TAS4464 showed prolonged target inhibition in human tumor xenograft mouse models; weekly or twice a week TAS4464 administration led to prominent antitumor activity in multiple human tumor xenograft mouse models including both hematologic and solid tumors without marked weight loss. As a conclusion, TAS4464 is the most potent and highly selective NAE inhibitor reported to date, showing superior antitumor activity with prolonged target inhibition. It is, therefore, a promising agent for the treatment of a variety of tumors including both hematologic and solid tumors. These results support the clinical evaluation of TAS4464 in hematologic and solid tumors.

The molecular chaperone heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a promising target for cancer therapy, as it assists in the stabilization of cancer-related proteins, promoting cancer cell growth, and survival. A novel series of HSP90 inhibitors were discovered by structure–activity relationship (SAR)-based optimization of an initial hit compound 11a having a 4-(4-(quinolin-3-yl)-1H-indol-1-yl)­benzamide structure. The pyrazolo­[3,4-b]­pyridine derivative, 16e (TAS-116), is a selective inhibitor of HSP90α and HSP90β among the HSP90 family proteins and exhibits oral availability in mice. The X-ray cocrystal structure of the 16e analogue 16d demonstrated a unique binding mode at the N-terminal ATP binding site. Oral administration of 16e demonstrated potent antitumor effects in an NCI-H1975 xenograft mouse model without significant body weight loss.

TAS4464, a potent, selective small molecule NEDD8-activating enzyme (NAE) inhibitor, leads to inactivation of cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) and consequent accumulations of its substrate proteins. Here, we investigated the antitumor properties and action mechanism of TAS4464 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). TAS4464 induced apoptotic cell death in various AML cell lines. TAS4464 treatments resulted in the activation of both the caspase-9-mediated intrinsic apoptotic pathway and caspase-8-mediated extrinsic apoptotic pathway in AML cells; combined treatment with inhibitors of these caspases markedly diminished TAS4464-induced apoptosis. In each apoptotic pathway, TAS4464 induced the mRNA transcription of the intrinsic proapoptotic factor NOXA and decreased that of the extrinsic antiapoptotic factor c-FLIP. RNA-sequencing analysis showed that the signaling pathway of the CRL substrate c-Myc was enriched after TAS4464 treatment. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay revealed that TAS4464-induced c-Myc bound to the PMAIP1 (encoding NOXA) and CFLAR (encoding c-FLIP) promoter regions, and siRNA-mediated c-Myc knockdown neutralized both TAS4464-mediated NOXA induction and c-FLIP downregulation. TAS4464 activated both caspase-8 and caspase-9 along with an increase in NOXA and a decrease in c-FLIP, resulting in complete tumor remission in a human AML xenograft model. These findings suggest that NAE inhibition leads to anti-AML activity via a novel c-Myc-dependent apoptosis induction mechanism.

No abstract