| Summary: | Clks have been shown by recent studies to be promising targets for cancer therapy, as they are considered key regulators in the process of pre-mRNA splicing, which in turn affects every aspect of tumor biology. In particular, Clk1 and -4 are overexpressed in several human tumors. Most of the potent Clk1 inhibitors reported in the literature are non-selective, mainly showing off-target activity towards Clk2, Dyrk1A and Dyrk1B. Herein, we present new 5-methoxybenzothiophene-2-carboxamide derivatives with unprecedented selectivity. In particular, the introduction of a 3,5-difluoro benzyl extension to the methylated amide led to the discovery of compound <b>10b</b> (cell-free IC<sub>50</sub> = 12.7 nM), which was four times more selective for Clk1 over Clk2 than the previously published flagship compound <b>1b</b>. Moreover, <b>10b</b> showed an improved growth inhibitory activity with T24 cells (GI<sub>50</sub> = 0.43 µM). Furthermore, a new binding model in the ATP pocket of Clk1 was developed based on the structure-activity relationships derived from new rigidified analogues.
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