Discovery of a Brain-Penetrant ATP-Competitive Inhibitor of the Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) for CNS Disorders

Bibliographic Details
Title: Discovery of a Brain-Penetrant ATP-Competitive Inhibitor of the Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) for CNS Disorders
Authors: Bonazzi, Simone, Goold, Carleton P., Gray, Audrey, Thomsen, Noel M., Nunez, Jill, Karki, Rajeshri G., Gorde, Aakruti, Biag, Jonathan D., Malik, Hasnain A., Sun, Yingchuan, Liang, Guiqing, Lubicka, Danuta, Salas, Sarah, Labbe-Giguere, Nancy, Keaney, Erin P., McTighe, Stephanie, Liu, Shanming, Deng, Lin, Piizzi, Grazia, Lombardo, Franco, Burdette, Doug, Dodart, Jean-Cosme, Wilson, Christopher J., Peukert, Stefan, Curtis, Daniel, Hamann, Lawrence G., Murphy, Leon O.
Source: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry; February 2020, Vol. 63 Issue: 3 p1068-1083, 16p
Abstract: Recent clinical evaluation of everolimus for seizure reduction in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a disease with overactivated mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling, has demonstrated the therapeutic value of mTOR inhibitors for central nervous system (CNS) indications. Given that everolimus is an incomplete inhibitor of the mTOR function, we sought to develop a new mTOR inhibitor that has improved properties and is suitable for CNS disorders. Starting from an in-house purine-based compound, optimization of the physicochemical properties of a thiazolopyrimidine series led to the discovery of the small molecule 7, a potent and selective brain-penetrant ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitor. In neuronal cell-based models of mTOR hyperactivity, 7corrected the mTOR pathway activity and the resulting neuronal overgrowth phenotype. The new mTOR inhibitor 7showed good brain exposure and significantly improved the survival rate of mice with neuronal-specific ablation of the Tsc1 gene. These results demonstrate the potential utility of this tool compound to test therapeutic hypotheses that depend on mTOR hyperactivity in the CNS.
Database: Supplemental Index
More Details
ISSN:00222623
15204804
DOI:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01398
Published in:Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Language:English