Reversible covalent c-Jun N-terminal kinase inhibitors targeting a specific cysteine by precision-guided Michael-acceptor warheads.
Balint, D., Poti, A.L., Alexa, A., Sok, P., Albert, K., Torda, L., Foldesi-Nagy, D., Csokas, D., Turczel, G., Imre, T., Szarka, E., Fekete, F., Bento, I., Bojtar, M., Palko, R., Szabo, P., Monostory, K., Papai, I., Soos, T., Remenyi, A.(2024) Nat Commun 15: 8606-8606
- PubMed: 39366946 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52573-2
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
8PT8, 8PT9, 8PTA - PubMed Abstract: 
There has been a surge of interest in covalent inhibitors for protein kinases in recent years. Despite success in oncology, the off-target reactivity of these molecules is still hampering the use of covalent warhead-based strategies. Herein, we disclose the development of precision-guided warheads to mitigate the off-target challenge. These reversible warheads have a complex and cyclic structure with optional chirality center and tailored steric and electronic properties. To validate our proof-of-concept, we modified acrylamide-based covalent inhibitors of c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs). We show that the cyclic warheads have high resilience against off-target thiols. Additionally, the binding affinity, residence time, and even JNK isoform specificity can be fine-tuned by adjusting the substitution pattern or using divergent and orthogonal synthetic elaboration of the warhead. Taken together, the cyclic warheads presented in this study will be a useful tool for medicinal chemists for the deliberate design of safer and functionally fine-tuned covalent inhibitors.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Organocatalysis Research Group, Institute of Organic Chemistry, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 1117, Budapest, Hungary.