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a b s t r a c tProtein kinase CK2 (CK2), a constitutively active serine/threonine kinase, is involved in a variety of roles essential to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Elevated levels of CK2 expression results in the dysregulation of key signaling pathways that regulate transcription, and has been implicated in cancer. The adenosine-5 0 -triphosphate-competitive inhibitor CX-4945 has been reported to show broad spectrum anti-proliferative activity in multiple cancer cell lines. Although the enzymatic IC 50 of CX-4945 has been reported, the thermodynamics and structural basis of binding to CK2a remained elusive. Presented here are the crystal structures of human CK2a in complex with CX-4945 and adenylyl phosphoramidate at 2.7 and 1.3 Å, respectively. Biophysical analysis of CX-4945 binding is also described. This data provides the structural rationale for the design of more potent inhibitors against this emerging cancer target.

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Aurora kinases are cell cycle regulated serine/threonine kinases that have been linked to cancer. Compound 1 was identified as a potent Aurora inhibitor but lacked oral bioavailability. Optimization of 1 led to the discovery of a series of fluoroamine and deuterated analogues, exemplified by compound 25, with an improved pharmacokinetic profile. We found that blocking oxidative metabolism at the benzylic position and decreasing the basicity of the amine are important to obtaining compounds with good biological profiles and oral bioavailability.

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