title: Discovery of a Potent Dihydrooxadiazole Series of Non-ATP-Competitive MK2 (MAPKAPK2) Inhibitors.
abstract: Inhibition of MK2 has been shown to offer advantages over that of p38 MAPK in the development of cures for inflammatory diseases such as arthritis. P38 MAPK knockout in mice was lethal, whereas MK2-null mice demonstrated strong inhibition of disease progression in collagen-induced arthritis and appeared normal and viable. However, it is challenging to develop ATP-competitive MK2 inhibitors due to high ATP binding affinity to the kinase. Non-ATP-competitive MK2 inhibitors interact and bind to the kinase in a mode independent of ATP concentration, which could provide better selectivity and cellular potency. Therefore, it is desirable to identify non-ATP-competitive MK2 inhibitors. Through structure optimization of lead compound 1, a novel series of dihydrooxadiazoles was discovered. Additional structure-activity relationship (SAR) study of this series led to the identification of compound 38 as a non-ATP-competitive MK2 inhibitor with potent enzymatic activity and good cellular potency. The SAR, synthesis, and biological data of dihydrooxadiazole series are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Inflammatory Disease, Merck Research Laboratories , 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, United States.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Inflammatory Disease, Merck Research Laboratories , 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, United States.
authors.forename: Pawan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dhondi
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Inflammatory Disease, Merck Research Laboratories , 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, United States.
authors.forename: Xianhai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Inflammatory Disease, Merck Research Laboratories , 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, United States.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aslanian
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Inflammatory Disease, Merck Research Laboratories , 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, United States.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fossetta
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Inflammatory Disease, Merck Research Laboratories , 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, United States.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Inflammatory Disease, Merck Research Laboratories , 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, United States.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lundell
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Inflammatory Disease, Merck Research Laboratories , 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, United States.
authors.forename: Anandan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palani
keywords: mitogen-activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase 2; non-ATP-competitive inhibitors