Adrian Hall, Jan Abendroth, Madison J. Bolejack, Tom Ceska, Sylvie Dell’Aiera, Victoria Ellis, David Fox, Cyril François, Muigai M. Muruthi, Camille Prével, Karine Poullennec, Sergei Romanov, Anne Valade, Alain Vanbellinghen, Jason Yano, and Martine Geraerts
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2022
DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.2c00134
We describe the identification and characterization of a series of covalent inhibitors of the C-terminal kinase domain (CTKD) of MSK1. The initial hit was identified via a high-throughput screening and represents a rare example of a covalent inhibitor which acts via an SNAr reaction of a 2,5-dichloropyrimidine with a cysteine residue (Cys440). The covalent mechanism of action was supported by in vitro biochemical experiments and was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Ultimately, the displacement of the 2-chloro moiety was confirmed by crystallization of an inhibitor with the CTKD. We also disclose the crystal structures of three compounds from this series bound to the CTKD of MSK1, in addition to the crystal structures of two unrelated RSK2 covalent inhibitors bound to the CTKD of MSK1.
