SignificanceMutants of RAS are major oncogenes and occur in many human cancers, but efforts to develop drugs that directly inhibit the corresponding constitutively active RAS proteins have failed so far. We therefore focused on SOS1, the guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) and activator of RAS. A combination of high-throughput and fragment screening resulted in the identification of nanomolar SOS1 inhibitors, which effectively down-regulate active RAS in tumor cells. In cells with wild-type KRAS, we observed complete inhibition of the RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK pathway. In a mutant KRAS cell line, SOS1 inhibition resulted in a reduction of phospho-ERK activity by 50%. Together, the data indicate that inhibition of GEFs may represent a viable approach for targeting RAS-driven tumors.
Selective inhibition of exclusively transcription-regulating positive transcription elongation factor b/CDK9 is a promising new approach in cancer therapy. Starting from atuveciclib, the first selective CDK9 inhibitor to enter clinical development, lead optimization efforts aimed at identifying intravenously (iv) applicable CDK9 inhibitors with an improved therapeutic index led to the discovery of the highly potent and selective clinical candidate VIP152. The evaluation of various scaffold hops was instrumental in the identification of VIP152, which is characterized by the underexplored benzyl sulfoximine group. VIP152 exhibited the best preclinical overall profile in vitro and in vivo, including high efficacy and good tolerability in xenograft models in mice and rats upon once weekly iv administration. VIP152 has entered clinical trials for the treatment of cancer with promising longterm, durable monotherapy activity in double-hit diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients.
An efficient synthesis of the enantiomerically pure cisannulated cyclopentenes 2 and ent-2 was established by the use of an enzymatic transesterification and hydrolysis, respectively, followed by an S N 2-type substitution with a benzyloxymethyl cuprate and a sigmatropic rearrangement. The advantage of this approach is the short sequence combined with an excellent overall yield and an enantiomeric excess of 99%.
The concept of modern crop protection demands for a continuous supply of new or modified established pesticides to avoid the development of serious resistances. Recent reports on the insecticidal spinosyns 1 and 2 show that also this class of pest managing agents is increasingly exposed to the formation of resistances. The synthesis of new derivatives is therefore highly desirable. We describe in this paper a convergent approach towards novel enantiopure spinosyn A analogues of type 3, which is based on investigations of structure-activity relationships and employs a twofold Heck reaction as key step for the preparation of the tricyclic backbone assembly.
BAY 1075553 was identified as a promising PET tracer for PSMA-positive prostate tumours in preclinical studies. BAY 1075553 can be produced using a robust, direct radiosynthesis procedure. Pharmacokinetic, toxicology and safety pharmacology studies support the application of BAY 1075553 in a first-in-man microdose study with single i.v. administration.
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