Discovery of a Potent, Selective, and Orally Available MTHFD2 Inhibitor (DS18561882) with in Vivo Antitumor Activity.
Kawai, J., Toki, T., Ota, M., Inoue, H., Takata, Y., Asahi, T., Suzuki, M., Shimada, T., Ono, K., Suzuki, K., Takaishi, S., Ohki, H., Matsui, S., Tsutsumi, S., Hirota, Y., Nakayama, K.(2019) J Med Chem 62: 10204-10220
- PubMed: 31638799 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01113
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
6KG2 - PubMed Abstract: 
We report the discovery of a potent and isozyme-selective MTHFD2 inhibitor, DS18561882 ( 2 ). Through investigation of the substituents on our tricyclic coumarin scaffold (1,2,3,4-tetrahydrochromeno[3,4- c ]pyridin-5-one), MTHFD2 inhibitory activity was shown to be elevated by incorporating an amine moiety at the 8-position and a methyl group at the 7-position of the initial lead 1 . X-ray structure analysis revealed that a key interaction for enhanced potency was salt bridge formation between the amine moiety and the diphosphate linker of an NAD + cofactor. Furthermore, ortho-substituted sulfonamide in place of benzoic acid of 1 significantly improved cell permeability and cell-based growth inhibition against a human breast cancer cell line. The thus-optimized DS18561882 showed the strongest cell-based activity (GI 50 = 140 nM) in the class, a good oral pharmacokinetic profile, and thereby tumor growth inhibition in a mouse xenograft model upon oral administration.
Organizational Affiliation: 
R&D Division , Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. , 1-2-58 Hiromachi , Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-8710 , Japan.