PMID: 24472025

Authors:

He S, Senter TJ, Pollock J, Han C, Upadhyay SK, Purohit T, Gogliotti RD, Lindsley CW, Cierpicki T, Stauffer SR, Grembecka J

Title:

High-Affinity Small-Molecule Inhibitors of the Menin-Mixed Lineage Leukemia (MLL) Interaction Closely Mimic a Natural Protein-Protein Interaction.

Journal:

J Med Chem. 2014 Feb 27;57(4):1543-56. doi: 10.1021/jm401868d. Epub 2014 Feb 6.

Abstract:

The protein-protein interaction (PPI) between menin and mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) plays a critical role in acute leukemias, and inhibition of this interaction represents a new potential therapeutic strategy for MLL leukemias. We report development of a novel class of small-molecule inhibitors of the menin-MLL interaction, the hydroxy- and aminomethylpiperidine compounds, which originated from HTS of approximately 288000 small molecules. We determined menin-inhibitor co-crystal structures and found that these compounds closely mimic all key interactions of MLL with menin. Extensive crystallography studies combined with structure-based design were applied for optimization of these compounds, resulting in MIV-6R, which inhibits the menin-MLL interaction with IC50 = 56 nM. Treatment with MIV-6 demonstrated strong and selective effects in MLL leukemia cells, validating specific mechanism of action. Our studies provide novel and attractive scaffold as a new potential therapeutic approach for MLL leukemias and demonstrate an example of PPI amenable to inhibition by small molecules.