LipE guided discovery of isopropylphenyl pyridazines as pantothenate kinase modulators.
Sharma, L.K., Yun, M.K., Subramanian, C., Tangallapally, R., Jackowski, S., Rock, C.O., White, S.W., Lee, R.E.(2021) Bioorg Med Chem 52: 116504-116504
- PubMed: 34814071 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2021.116504
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
6X4J, 6X4K, 6X4L - PubMed Abstract: 
Pantothenate kinase (PANK) is the critical regulator of intracellular levels of coenzyme A and has emerged as an attractive target for treating neurological and metabolic disorders. This report describes the optimization, synthesis, and full structure-activity relationships of a new chemical series of pantothenate competitive PANK inhibitors. Potent drug-like molecules were obtained by optimizing a high throughput screening hit, using lipophilic ligand efficiency (LipE) derived from human PANK3 IC 50 values to guide ligand development. X-ray crystal structures of PANK3 with index inhibitors from the optimization were determined to rationalize the emerging structure activity relationships. The analysis revealed a key bidentate hydrogen bonding interaction between pyridazine and R306' as a major contributor to the LipE gain observed in the optimization. A tractable series of PANK3 modulators with nanomolar potency, excellent LipE values, desirable physicochemical properties, and a well-defined structural binding mode was produced from this study.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas PI, MS1000, Memphis, TN 38105, United States; Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, United States.