Structure-Guided Discovery of Potent and Selective Inhibitors of ERK1/2 from a Modestly Active and Promiscuous Chemical Start Point.
Ward, R.A., Bethel, P., Cook, C., Davies, E., Debreczeni, J.E., Fairley, G., Feron, L., Flemington, V., Graham, M.A., Greenwood, R., Griffin, N., Hanson, L., Hopcroft, P., Howard, T.D., Hudson, J., James, M., Jones, C.D., Jones, C.R., Lamont, S., Lewis, R., Lindsay, N., Roberts, K., Simpson, I., St-Gallay, S., Swallow, S., Tang, J., Tonge, M., Wang, Z., Zhai, B.(2017) J Med Chem 60: 3438-3450
- PubMed: 28376306 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b00267
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
5NGU, 5NHF, 5NHH, 5NHJ, 5NHL, 5NHO, 5NHP, 5NHV - PubMed Abstract: 
There are a number of small-molecule inhibitors targeting the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway that have either been approved or are in clinical development for oncology across a range of disease indications. The inhibition of ERK1/2 is of significant current interest, as cell lines with acquired resistance to BRAF and MEK inhibitors have been shown to maintain sensitivity to ERK1/2 inhibition in preclinical models. This article reports on our recent work to identify novel, potent, and selective reversible ERK1/2 inhibitors from a low-molecular-weight, modestly active, and highly promiscuous chemical start point, compound 4. To guide and inform the evolution of this series, inhibitor binding mode information from X-ray crystal structures was critical in the rapid exploration of this template to compound 35, which was active when tested in in vivo antitumor efficacy experiments.
Organizational Affiliation: 
IMED Oncology and Discovery Sciences, AstraZeneca , Darwin Building, and AstraZeneca, Hodgkin Building, c/o Darwin Building, 310 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0WG, U.K.