Discovery of highly potent human deoxyuridine triphosphatase inhibitors based on the conformation restriction strategy

J Med Chem. 2012 Jun 14;55(11):5483-96. doi: 10.1021/jm300416h. Epub 2012 May 30.

Abstract

Human deoxyuridine triphosphatase (dUTPase) inhibition is a promising approach to enhance the efficacy of thymidylate synthase (TS) inhibitor based chemotherapy. In this study, we describe the discovery of a novel class of human dUTPase inhibitors based on the conformation restriction strategy. On the basis of the X-ray cocrystal structure of dUTPase and its inhibitor compound 7, we designed and synthesized two conformation restricted analogues, i.e., compounds 8 and 9. These compounds exhibited increased in vitro potency compared with the parent compound 7. Further structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies identified a compound 43 with the highest in vitro potency (IC(50) = 39 nM, EC(50) = 66 nM). Furthermore, compound 43 had a favorable oral PK profile and exhibited potent antitumor activity in combination with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in the MX-1 breast cancer xenograft model. These results suggested that a dUTPase inhibitor may have potential for clinical usage.

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Oral
  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemical synthesis*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacokinetics
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Drug Synergism
  • Fluorouracil / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Nude
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Pyrophosphatases / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Sulfonamides / chemical synthesis*
  • Sulfonamides / pharmacokinetics
  • Sulfonamides / pharmacology
  • Transplantation, Heterologous
  • Uracil / analogs & derivatives*
  • Uracil / chemical synthesis
  • Uracil / pharmacokinetics
  • Uracil / pharmacology

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • N-(1-(3-(cyclopropylmethoxy)phenyl)ethyl)-5-(2,4-dioxo-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-1(2H)-yl)pent-3-ene-1-sulfonamide
  • Sulfonamides
  • Uracil
  • Pyrophosphatases
  • dUTP pyrophosphatase
  • Fluorouracil

Associated data

  • PDB/3ARN