Discovery and Optimization of Seven-Membered Lactam-Based Compounds to Phenocopy the Inhibition of the Aurora Kinase B
Jian Huang, Qiong Shi, Namrta Choudhry, Hongmei Li, Chenglu Yang, Julia Kalashova, Ziqi Yan, Jinhua Li, Mallu Chenna Reddy, Sridhar Goud Gopala, Shenqiu Zhang, Jing Zhang, Naganna Nimishetti, Dun Yang
Abstract
We used mechanism-informed phenotypic screening to identify and optimize compounds that phenocopy the genetic depletion of the mitotic aurora kinase B (AURKB) kinase. After assaying nine aryl fused seven-membered lactam compounds, we identified a hit compound 6a that was subsequently optimized to five lead compounds with low nanomolar activity, represented by the lead compound 6v (19 nM). With excellent drug-like properties, these compounds reproduced the loss of function in phenotypes of AURKB and exhibited potent cytotoxic activities in various cancer cell lines. Collectively, these data support that seven-membered lactam-based analogs might be valuable for further development as a new type of antimitotic agents for the treatment of cancer.