Purpose: The aim of this study was to show preclinical efficacy and clinical development potential of PKI-587, a dual phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/mTOR inhibitor.Experimental Design: In vitro class 1 PI3K enzyme and human tumor cell growth inhibition assays and in vivo five tumor xenograft models were used to show efficacy.

[structure: see text] Liphagal (1), a selective inhibitor of PI3K alpha, has been isolated from the marine sponge Aka coralliphaga collected in Dominica. The "liphagane" meroterpenoid carbon skeleton of liphagal (1) is new. A biomimetic total synthesis has been used to confirm the constitution of liphagal (1) and support a proposed biogenesis.

The PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is a key pathway in cell proliferation, growth, survival, protein synthesis, and glucose metabolism. It has been recognized recently that inhibiting this pathway might provide a viable therapy for cancer. A series of bis(morpholino-1,3,5-triazine) derivatives were prepared and optimized to provide the highly efficacious PI3K/mTOR inhibitor 1-(4-{[4-(dimethylamino)piperidin-1-yl]carbonyl}phenyl)-3-[4-(4,6-dimorpholin-4-yl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)phenyl]urea 26 (PKI-587). Compound 26 has shown excellent activity in vitro and in vivo, with antitumor efficacy in both subcutaneous and orthotopic xenograft tumor models when administered intravenously. The structure-activity relationships and the in vitro and in vivo activity of analogues in this series are described.

Raf/MEK-1/MAPK cascade inhibitor activity-directed fractionation of the sponge Stylissa massa afforded eight known alkaloids: aldisine (1), 2-bromoaldisine (2), 10Z-debromohymenialdisine (3), 10E-hymenialdisine (4), 10Z-hymenialdisine (5), hymenin (6), oroidin (7), and 4,5-dibromopyrrole-2-carbonamide (8). Both 4 and 5 showed significant enzyme inhibitory activity (IC(50) 3 and 6 nM, respectively). Secondary assays identified these compounds as potent MEK-1 inhibitors. Compounds 4 and 5 also inhibited the growth of human tumor LoVo cells.