Discovery of Macrocyclic Pyrimidines as MerTK-Specific Inhibitors.
McIver, A.L., Zhang, W., Liu, Q., Jiang, X., Stashko, M.A., Nichols, J., Miley, M.J., Norris-Drouin, J., Machius, M., DeRyckere, D., Wood, E., Graham, D.K., Earp, H.S., Kireev, D., Frye, S.V., Wang, X.(2017) ChemMedChem 12: 207-213
- PubMed: 28032464 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.201600589
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
5K0X - PubMed Abstract: 
Macrocycles have attracted significant attention in drug discovery recently. In fact, a few de novo designed macrocyclic kinase inhibitors are currently in clinical trials with good potency and selectivity for their intended target. In this study, we successfully engaged a structure-based drug design approach to discover macrocyclic pyrimidines as potent Mer tyrosine kinase (MerTK)-specific inhibitors. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 384-well format was employed to evaluate the inhibitory activity of macrocycles in a cell-based assay assessing tyrosine phosphorylation of MerTK. Through structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, analogue 11 [UNC2541; (S)-7-amino-N-(4-fluorobenzyl)-8-oxo-2,9,16-triaza-1(2,4)-pyrimidinacyclohexadecaphane-1-carboxamide] was identified as a potent and MerTK-specific inhibitor that exhibits sub-micromolar inhibitory activity in the cell-based ELISA. In addition, an X-ray structure of MerTK protein in complex with 11 was resolved to show that these macrocycles bind in the MerTK ATP pocket.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Eshelman School of Pharmacy.