Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of the Highly Selective and Potent G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase 2 (GRK2) Inhibitor for the Potential Treatment of Heart Failure.
Okawa, T., Aramaki, Y., Yamamoto, M., Kobayashi, T., Fukumoto, S., Toyoda, Y., Henta, T., Hata, A., Ikeda, S., Kaneko, M., Hoffman, I.D., Sang, B.C., Zou, H., Kawamoto, T.(2017) J Med Chem 60: 6942-6990
- PubMed: 28699740 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b00443
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
5UUU, 5UVC - PubMed Abstract: 
A novel class of therapeutic drug candidates for heart failure, highly potent and selective GRK2 inhibitors, exhibit potentiation of β-adrenergic signaling in vitro studies. Hydrazone derivative 5 and 1,2,4-triazole derivative 24a were identified as hit compounds by HTS. New scaffold generation and SAR studies of all parts resulted in a 4-methyl-1,2,4-triazole derivative with an N-benzylcarboxamide moiety with highly potent activity toward GRK2 and selectivity over other kinases. In terms of subtype selectivity, these compounds showed enough selectivity against GRK1, 5, 6, and 7 with almost equipotent inhibition to GRK3. Our medicinal chemistry efforts led to the discovery of 115h (GRK2 IC 50 = 18 nM), which was obtained the cocrystal structure with human GRK2 and an inhibitor of GRK2 that potentiates β-adrenergic receptor (βAR)-mediated cAMP accumulation and prevents internalization of βARs in β2AR-expressing HEK293 cells treated with isoproterenol. Therefore, 115h appears to be a novel class of therapeutic for heart failure treatment.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Shonan Research Center, Pharmaceutical Research Division, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. , 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-Chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan.