Eur J Med Chem. 2023 Jan 21. pii: S0223-5234(23)00055-7. [Epub ahead of print]249 115140
Yulin Liu,
Yujiao Wei,
Xuan Wang,
Lan Ma,
Xuechun Li,
Yue Sun,
Yanjie Wu,
Li Zhang,
Jiefu Wang,
Ming Li,
Kun Zhang,
Mingming Wei,
Guang Yang,
Cheng Yang.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been confirmed as one of the most lethal heterogeneous clonal diseases. In addition to being essential for the development and progression of leukemia, leukemic stem cells (LSCs), a subpopulation of leukemia cells with stem cell characteristics, are also primarily responsible for the development of leukemia relapse and drug resistance. Elimination of stemness and induction of AML cell differentiation would become a promising and effective therapeutic strategy. In the present study, a novel class of HDACs/CDKs dual inhibitors was prepared and optimized. An active compound 33a has been identified, which exhibited potent and selective inhibition of CDK9, CDK12, CDK13, HDAC1, HDAC2 and HDAC3 at low nanomolar concentrations and significantly induced differentiation of leukemic stem-like cells and inhibited AML proliferation. Furthermore, the lead compound has relatively adequate oral bioavailability, suggesting that it might be used as a novel strategy to reduce the burden of LSCs and improve the prognosis for AML.
Keywords: Acute myeloid leukemia; Cell differentiation; HDACs/CDKs dual inhibitors; Leukemic stem cells; Molecular hybridization