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Title: Discovery of QCA570 as an Exceptionally Potent and Efficacious Proteolysis Targeting Chimera (PROTAC) Degrader of the Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal (BET) Proteins Capable of Inducing Complete and Durable Tumor Regression

Journal Article · · Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

Proteins of the bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) family are epigenetics “readers” and promising therapeutic targets for cancer and other human diseases. We describe herein a structure-guided design of [1,4]oxazepines as a new class of BET inhibitors and our subsequent design, synthesis, and evaluation of proteolysis-targeting chimeric (PROTAC) small-molecule BET degraders. Our efforts have led to the discovery of extremely potent BET degraders, exemplified by QCA570, which effectively induces degradation of BET proteins and inhibits cell growth in human acute leukemia cell lines even at low picomolar concentrations. We report QCA570 achieves complete and durable tumor regression in leukemia xenograft models in mice at well-tolerated dose-schedules. QCA570 is the most potent and efficacious BET degrader reported to date.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Organization:
Breast Cancer Research Foundation; Prostate Cancer Foundation; National Cancer Institute (NCI); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Grant/Contract Number:
R01CA215758; P30 CA046592
OSTI ID:
1544861
Journal Information:
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Vol. 61, Issue 15; ISSN 0022-2623
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 162 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Bromodomains: a new target class for drug development journal July 2019
PROTACs suppression of CDK4/6, crucial kinases for cell cycle regulation in cancer journal January 2019
Emerging modes-of-action in drug discovery journal January 2019
Developing degraders: principles and perspectives on design and chemical space journal January 2019
BAF complex vulnerabilities in cancer demonstrated via structure-based PROTAC design journal June 2019
Targeted protein degradation: expanding the toolbox journal October 2019
Electrophilic PROTACs that degrade nuclear proteins by engaging DCAF16 journal June 2019
Small molecule PROTACs: an emerging technology for targeted therapy in drug discovery journal January 2019
The PROTAC technology in drug development: The PROTAC technology in drug development journal January 2019
Targeting epigenetic modifications in cancer therapy: erasing the roadmap to cancer journal March 2019
The dTAG system for immediate and target-specific protein degradation journal March 2018
Degradation of proteins by PROTACs and other strategies journal February 2020
Bivalent Ligands for Protein Degradation in Drug Discovery journal January 2019