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Publication Abstract from PubMed

Hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) is implicated as a negative regulator of T-cell receptor-induced T-cell activation. Studies using HPK1 kinase-dead knock-in animals have demonstrated the loss of HPK1 kinase activity resulted in an increase in T-cell function and tumor growth inhibition in glioma models. Herein, we describe the discovery of a series of small molecule inhibitors of HPK1. Using a structure-based drug design approach, the kinase selectivity of the molecules was significantly improved by inducing and stabilizing an unusual P-loop folded binding mode. The metabolic liabilities of the initial 7-azaindole high-throughput screening hit were mitigated by addressing a key metabolic soft spot along with physicochemical property-based optimization. The resulting spiro-azaindoline HPK1 inhibitors demonstrated improved in vitro ADME properties and the ability to induce cytokine production in primary human T-cells.

Discovery of Spiro-azaindoline Inhibitors of Hematopoietic Progenitor Kinase 1 (HPK1).,Chan BK, Seward E, Lainchbury M, Brewer TF, An L, Blench T, Cartwright MW, Chan GKY, Choo EF, Drummond J, Elliott RL, Gancia E, Gazzard L, Hu B, Jones GE, Luo X, Madin A, Malhotra S, Moffat JG, Pang J, Salphati L, Sneeringer CJ, Stivala CE, Wei B, Wang W, Wu P, Heffron TP ACS Med Chem Lett. 2021 Dec 8;13(1):84-91. doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.1c00473., eCollection 2022 Jan 13. PMID:35059127^[3]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.