Lifeng Geng

Discovery of Novel 2-Aminobenzamide Inhibitors of Heat Shock Protein 90 as Potent, Selective and Orally Active Antitumor Agents

A novel class of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitors was developed from an unbiased screen to identify protein targets for a diverse compound library. These indol-4-one and indazol-4-one derived 2-aminobenzamides showed strong binding affinity to Hsp90, and optimized analogues exhibited nanomolar antiproliferative activity across multiple cancer cell lines. Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) induction and specific client protein degradation in cells on treatment with the inhibitors supported Hsp90 inhibition as the mechanism of action. Computational chemistry and X-ray crystallographic analysis of selected member compounds clearly defined the protein-inhibitor interaction and assisted the design of analogues. 4-[6,6-Dimethyl-4-oxo-3-(trifluoromethyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-indazol-1-yl]-2-[(trans-4-hydroxycyclohexyl)amino]benzamide (SNX-2112, 9) was identified as highly selective and potent (IC(50) Her2 = 11 nM, HT-29 = 3 nM); its prodrug amino-acetic acid 4-[2-carbamoyl-5-(6,6-dimethyl-4-oxo-3-trifluoromethyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-indazol-1-yl)-phenylamino]-cyclohexyl ester methanesulfonate (SNX-5422, 10) was orally bioavailable and efficacious in a broad range of xenograft tumor models (e.g. 67% growth delay in a HT-29 model) and is now in multiple phase I clinical trials.

Discovery of benzamide tetrahydro-4H-carbazol-4-ones as novel small molecule inhibitors of Hsp90

Hsp90 maintains the conformational stability of multiple proteins implicated in oncogenesis and has emerged as a target for chemotherapy. We report here the discovery of a novel small molecule scaffold that inhibits Hsp90. X-ray data show that the scaffold binds competitively at the ATP site on Hsp90. Cellular proliferation and client assays demonstrate that members of the series are able to inhibit Hsp90 at nanomolar concentrations.

Novel carbazole and acyl-indole antimitotics

In the course of our Heat Shock 90 program, certain carbazole compounds were identified which had an off-target antiproliferative activity. To understand the off-target activity, we studied one analog with strong activity. We discovered that it had an effect on tubulin polymerization kinetics and was competitive with colchicine. Additional analogs were made, and a number of potent compounds were identified.