Abstract
The mitotic kinesin Eg5 (also known as kinesin spindle protein, KSP, Kif11, a member of the kinesin-5 family) represents an attractive oncology drug target in the ongoing development of anti-mitotic drugs that selectively block mitosis through disruption to the mitotic spindle. In this state-of-the-art review, we outline the progress that has been made in the development of Eg5 inhibitors for clinical use. We evaluate the preclinical development and attributes of key Eg5 inhibitors that have undergone clinical evaluation or extensive preclinical optimisation, and discuss the medicinal chemistry strategies utilised in their design to overcome the challenges encountered during lead optimisation. We critically analyse the progress that has been made towards delivering clinical benefits, and the wider implications this has in the utility of mitotic kinesin inhibitors as prospective oncology drugs.
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Abbreviations
- AAG:
-
α-1-acid glycoprotein
- AML:
-
Acute myeloid leukemia
- Basal Eg5 inhibition:
-
Inhibition of the basal ATPase activity of Eg5
- CBR:
-
Clinical benefit rate
- CYP:
-
Cytochrome P450
- DMPK:
-
Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics
- F:
-
Bioavailability
- fu :
-
Fraction unbound
- hERG:
-
Human ether-a-go-go-related gene
- HHPQ:
-
Hexahydropyranoquinoline
- HTS:
-
High-throughput screening
- i.p.:
-
Intraperitoneal
- K i app :
-
Estimated apparent K i value
- MCL-1:
-
Antiapoptotic protein myeloid cell leukemia 1
- MDR:
-
Multidrug resistance
- MM:
-
Multiple myeloma
- MT:
-
Microtubules
- MT Eg5 inhibition:
-
Inhibition of the microtubule stimulated ATPase activity of Eg5
- MTD:
-
Maximum tolerated dose
- NCI:
-
National Cancer Institute
- n.i.:
-
No inhibition
- ORR:
-
Overall response rate
- PK:
-
Pharmacokinetic
- PgP:
-
P-glycoprotein
- RRMM:
-
Relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma
- SAR:
-
Structure activity relationship
- STLC:
-
S-trityl L-cysteine
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Acknowledgments
We apologise to authors whose work we were unable to include due to limitations of space. We thank Prof. Frank Kozielski for helpful comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to Cancer Research UK for supporting the STLC programme and funding the postdoctoral positions of NGA and GB on the Small Molecule Drug Discovery Programme, in association with Prostate Cancer UK. JADG thanks the Umeå Centre for Microbial Research for funding his postdoctoral research at Umeå University.
Copyright Acknowledgements: Excerpts from this chapter appeared previously in the doctoral thesis of James A. D. Good [76]. The data appearing in Tables 2.1, 2.4 and 2.6 was adapted with permission from the cited references and is copyright American Chemical Society [15, 21, 25, 28, 58, 67]. The date appearing in Tables 2.2, 2.3 and 2.5 was adapted with permission from the cited references and is copyright Elsevier [26, 31, 33–39].
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Good, J.A.D., Berretta, G., Anthony, N.G., Mackay, S.P. (2015). The Discovery and Development of Eg5 Inhibitors for the Clinic. In: Kozielski, FSB, F. (eds) Kinesins and Cancer. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9732-0_2
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