1. Academic Validation
  2. Fragment-based discovery of type I inhibitors of maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase

Fragment-based discovery of type I inhibitors of maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase

  • ACS Med Chem Lett. 2014 May 23;6(1):25-30. doi: 10.1021/ml5001245.
Christopher N Johnson 1 Valerio Berdini 1 Lijs Beke 2 Pascal Bonnet 2 Dirk Brehmer 2 Joseph E Coyle 1 Phillip J Day 1 Martyn Frederickson 1 Eddy J E Freyne 2 Ron A H J Gilissen 2 Christopher C F Hamlett 1 Steven Howard 1 Lieven Meerpoel 2 Rachel McMenamin 1 Sahil Patel 1 David C Rees 1 Andrew Sharff 1 François Sommen 2 Tongfei Wu 2 Joannes T M Linders 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Astex Pharmaceuticals , 436 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0QA, United Kingdom.
  • 2 Janssen Research and Development, A Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. , Turnhoutseweg 30, Beerse 2340 Belgium.
Abstract

Fragment-based drug design was successfully applied to maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (MELK). A low affinity (160 μM) fragment hit was identified, which bound to the hinge region with an atypical binding mode, and this was optimized using structure-based design into a low-nanomolar and cell-penetrant inhibitor, with a good selectivity profile, suitable for use as a chemical probe for elucidation of MELK biology.

Keywords

Maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase; fragment-based drug design; structure-based optimization.

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