Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Brief Article
model (see SI) and thus a suitable profile for oral and
intravenous gavage. We therefore performed a full mouse
pharmacokinetic experiment. In agreement with the in vitro
data, 13 showed 70% bioavailability and moderate clearance
(∼50% of mouse liver blood flow) and volume of distribution
(see SI). This set of data therefore suggested that 13 is suitable
for modulating BAZ2A and BAZ2B in vivo.
funding from Cancer Research UK (grant no. C309/A11566).
The SGC is a registered charity (no. 1097737) that receives
funds from AbbVie, Bayer Pharma AG, Boehringer Ingelheim,
the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada,
GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Lilly Canada, the Novartis Research
Foundation, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development
and Innovation, Pfizer, Takeda, and the Wellcome Trust
(092809/Z/10/Z).
CONCLUSIONS
■
REFERENCES
We describe the discovery of a potent and selective chemical
probe to target BAZ2A and BAZ2B bromodomains starting
from a weakly potent hit. We achieved a greater than 100-fold
improvement in potency in just two cycles of design and
synthesis, underscoring the power of structure based design.
Moreover, our work highlights the utility of intramolecular π-
stacking to target challenging binding sites. In strong contrast
to many other bromodomains, e.g., the BET subfamily, BAZ2A
and B, show a low degree of druggability due to an open
binding pocket that lacks the high degree of enclosure observed
for BRD4. Recently, the concept of molecules featuring a three-
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and extensive hydrophobic and polar contacts for open, less
enclosed pockets. Interestingly, a π-stacking arrangement has
been observed for inhibitors of BCL2, another protein−protein
interaction target.22
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Because of its excellent in vitro and in vivo profile, 13
(BAZ2-ICR) satisfies the criteria for a dual BAZ2A and BAZ2B
chemical probe. The compound is freely available to the
of BAZ2A and B are underway and will be published in due
course.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
* Supporting Information
■
S
Experimental and characterization details for all new com-
pounds, computational data, ITC data, assays data, crystallo-
graphic data, pharmacokinetic data, and NMR spectra. This
material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Authors
■
(10) Gu, L.; Frommel, S. C.; Oakes, C. C.; Simon, R.; Grupp, K.;
Gerig, C. Y.; Bar, D.; Robinson, M. D.; Baer, C.; Weiss, M.; Gu, Z.;
̈
Schapira, M.; Kuner, R.; Sultmann, H.; Provenzano, M.; ICGC Project
̈
on Early Onset Prostate Cancer, Yaspo, M.-L.; Brors, B.; Korbel, J.;
Schlomm, T.; Sauter, G.; Eils, R.; Plass, C.; Santoro, R. BAZ2A (TIP5)
is Involved in Epigenetic Alterations in Prostate Cancer and its
Overexpression Predicts Disease Recurrence. Nature Genet. 2014,
DOI: 10.1038/ng.3165.
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
(11) Vidler, L. R.; Brown, N.; Knapp, S.; Hoelder, S. Druggability
Analysis and Structural Classification of Bromodomain Acetyl-Lysine
Binding Sites. J. Med. Chem. 2012, 55, 7346−7359.
(12) Ferguson, F. M.; Fedorov, O.; Chaikuad, A.; Philpott, M.;
Muniz, J. R.; Felletar, I.; von Delft, F.; Heightman, T.; Knapp, S.; Abell,
C.; Ciulli, A. Targeting Low-Druggability Bromodomains: Fragment
Based Screening and Inhibitor Design Against the BAZ2B
Bromodomain. J. Med. Chem. 2013, 56, 10183−10187.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
■
Lewis Vidler was funded by Cancer Research UK (grant no.
C309/A11369), Sally McGrath was funded by Wellcome Trust
(grant no. 090171/Z/09/Z), Wasim Akhtar was funded by
EPSRC DTG (grant no. EP/J500240/1). We acknowledge
NHS funding to the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and
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J. Med. Chem. 2015, 58, 2553−2559