E. G. McIver et al. / Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 22 (2012) 7169–7173
7173
Table 4
toxicity in vivo at higher doses (P20 mg/kg ip). We are currently
attempting to improve the pharmacokinetics of the series as well
as trying to understand the reasons for the observed toxicity.
In summary, we have identified a novel series of potent, selec-
Caco-2 permeability data on a selection of compounds
Compound
Caco-2 A > B (nm/s)a
Efflux ratiob
17b
18c
20j
17d
17e
20b
10
1
14
340
100
74
56
780
16
1
3
8
tive inhibitors of the TBK1/IKKe pathway. Compound 20b shows
a significant inhibition of LPS-induced release of the pro-inflamma-
tory cytokine, IFN-b in mice, although toxicity was observed at
higher doses. This chemical series has delivered a number of useful
probe compounds, which are enabling us to elucidate the putative
a
A > B values quoted relate to the apical to basolateral flux.
The efflux ratio is the (B > A)/(A > B).
role of the TBK1/IKKe pathway in inflammation.
b
Acknowledgments
Table 5
The authors would like to acknowledge Hilary McLauchlan and
James Hastie of MRC Protein Phosphorylation unit for coordinating
and running the kinase selectivity assays. In vitro microsomal sta-
bility assays were run by David Tickle and Sadhia Mahmood of
MRCT. The Caco-2 assay was carried out by BioFocus DPI. The PK
study was carried out by Pharmidex.
IC50 data for a selection of kinases
Kinase
IC50
(l
M)
20b
20
0.02
1.4
3.7
0.008
Kinase
IC50
17d
(
l
M)
17d
20b
MNK1
MARK3
VEG-FR
BRSK2
TBK1
19
Aurora B
CDK2
AMPK
PDK1
0.70
0.63
0.55
0.83
0.03
0.19
0.11
1.8
0.78
0.10
0.012
3.6
1.9
References and notes
0.006
IKKe
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Table 6
Pharmacokinetic data for compound 20b
Route
t1/2 (h)
Cl (ml/min/kg)
Vdis (L/kg)
1.79
F (%)
iv (1 mg/kg)
po (5 mg/kg)
0.45
1.25
79
—
—
25
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Figure 4. In vivo efficacy of compound 20b.
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16. Biochemical IC50 determinations against various kinases were carried out
using radioactive (33P-ATP) filter capture assays. Compounds were incubated
over a concentration range with the kinase, a peptide substrate and radioactive
in selectivity. Table 5 shows the IC50 data for 17d and 20b against
the kinases which showed activity in the selectivity screen. Both
compounds show activity against IKKe, although the potency ap-
pears to be lower than TBK1. With the exception of MARK3, the
compounds show at least 10-fold selectivity over TBK1 against
all of the other kinases tested.
The N-methyl pyrazole analogue 20b was selected for evalua-
tion in vivo as this compound had the best overall balance of cel-
lular potency, kinase selectivity and in vitro ADME properties.
Pharmacokinetic data in CD-1 mice for this compound are summa-
rized in Table 6. The compound was found to have high clearance
and moderate oral bioavailability and a relatively short half-life.
For this reason we chose an intraperitoneal route of administration
for the in vivo model.
ATP. The reaction was stopped and the labeled substrate captured on
a
nitrocellulose filter plate and counted. The IC50 was then determined from the
compound concentration curve.
17. Tanramluk, D.; Schreyer, A.; Pitt, W. R.; Blundell, T. L. Chem. Biol. Drug. Des.
2009, 14, 16.
18. RAW264.7 murine macrophages were pre-incubated with compounds for
30 min, prior to stimulation with LPS for 6 h. Conditioned medium was assayed
for RANTES using a commercial ELISA kit.
19. Graczyk, P. P. J. Med. Chem. 2007, 50, 5773.
20. Mice were injected intraperitonealy with the compound 20b (15 mg/kg) and
30 min later LPS (3 mg/kg) was administered in the same way. Serum was
collected 1 h post-LPS challenge and the concentrations of IFNb were measured
using an ELISA assay. Data are presented as the mean SEM (n = 4). ND is non-
detectable.
Compound 20b shows a significant inhibition of LPS-induced
release of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, IFN-b in mice, (Fig. 4),20
suggesting that the TBK1/IKK
e pathway plays an important role in
inflammation. It should be noted however, that we observed acute