PMID: 18313304

Authors:

Asano Y, Kitamura S, Ohra T, Aso K, Igata H, Tamura T, Kawamoto T, Tanaka T, Sogabe S, Matsumoto S, Yamaguchi M, Kimura H, Itoh F

Title:

Discovery, synthesis and biological evaluation of isoquinolones as novel and highly selective JNK inhibitors (1).

Journal:

Bioorg Med Chem. 2008 Apr 15;16(8):4715-32. Epub 2008 Feb 13.

Abstract:

A novel series of 4-phenylisoquinolones were synthesized and evaluated as c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitors. Initial modification at the 2- and 3-positions of the isoquinolone ring of hit compound 4, identified from high-throughput screening, led to the lead compound 6b. The optimization was carried out using a JNK1-binding model of 6b and several compounds exhibited potent JNK inhibition. Among them, 11g significantly inhibited cardiac hypertrophy in rat pressure-overload models without affecting blood pressure and the concept of JNK inhibitors as novel therapeutic agents for heart failure was confirmed.