The dicarboxylate anions 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate and fumarate can be selectively intercalated into the layered double hydroxide [LiAl 2 (OH) 6 ]Cl‚H 2 O from equimolar molar mixtures of the 1,2-, 1,3-, and 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate and fumarate and maleate isomers, respectively. Time-resolved in situ energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction studies have shown that these are the thermodynamic products following the conversion of an initial phase in which all the anions are simultaneously intercalated.

Protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) 4 (also known as coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1; CARM1) is involved in a variety of biological processes and is considered as a candidate oncogene owing to its overexpression in several types of cancer. Selective PRMT4 inhibitors are useful tools for clarifying the molecular events regulated by PRMT4 and for validating PRMT4 as a therapeutic target. Here, we report the discovery of TP-064, a potent, selective, and cell-active chemical probe of human PRMT4 and its co-crystal structure with PRMT4. TP-064 inhibited the methyltransferase activity of PRMT4 with high potency (half-maximal inhibitory concentration, IC50 < 10 nM) and selectivity over other PRMT family proteins, and reduced arginine dimethylation of the PRMT4 substrates BRG1-associated factor 155 (BAF155; IC50= 340 ± 30 nM) and Mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12; IC50 = 43 ± 10 nM). TP-064 treatment inhibited the proliferation of a subset of multiple myeloma cell lines, with affected cells arrested in G1 phase of the cell cycle. TP-064 and its negative control (TP-064N) will be valuable tools to further investigate the biology of PRMT4 and the therapeutic potential of PRMT4 inhibition.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family plays a critical role in vital cellular processes and in various cancers. Known EGFR inhibitors exhibit distinct antitumor responses against the various EGFR mutants associated with nonsmall-cell lung cancer. The L858R mutation enhances clinical sensitivity to gefitinib and erlotinib as compared with wild type and reduces the relative sensitivity to lapatinib. In contrast, the T790M mutation confers drug resistance to gefitinib and erlotinib. We determined crystal structures of the wild-type and T790M/L858R double mutant EGFR kinases with reversible and irreversible pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidine inhibitors based on analogues of TAK-285 and neratinib. In these structures, M790 adopts distinct conformations to accommodate different inhibitors, whereas R858 allows conformational variations of the activation loop. These results provide structural insights for understanding the structure-activity relationships that should contribute to the development of potent inhibitors against drug-sensitive or -resistant EGFR mutations.

Eukaryotic initiation factor 4A3 (eIF4A3), a member of the DEAD-box RNA helicase family, is one of the core components of the exon junction complex (EJC). The EJC is known to be involved in a variety of RNA metabolic processes typified by nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD). In order to identify molecular probes to investigate the functions and therapeutic relevance of eIF4A3, a search for selective eIF4A3 inhibitors was conducted. Through the chemical optimization of 1,4-diacylpiperazine derivatives identified via high-throughput screening (HTS), we discovered the first reported selective eIF4A3 inhibitor 53a exhibiting cellular NMD inhibitory activity. A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensing assay ascertained the direct binding of 53a and its analog 52a to eIF4A3 and revealed that the binding occurs at a non-ATP binding site. Compounds 52a and 53a represent novel molecular probes for further study of eIF4A3, the EJC, and NMD.

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