Discovery of (2<i>R</i>,4<i>R</i>)-4-((<i>S</i>)-2-Amino-3-methylbutanamido)-2-(4-boronobutyl)pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic Acid (AZD0011), an Actively Transported Prodrug of a Potent Arginase Inhibitor to Treat Cancer
Arginase is a promising immuno-oncology target that can restore the innate immune response. However, it's highly polar active site often requires potent inhibitors to mimic amino acids, leading to poor passive permeability and low oral exposure. Using structure-based drug design, we discovered a novel proline-based arginase inhibitor (<b>10</b>) that was potent but had low oral bioavailability in rat. This issue was addressed by incorporating amino acids to target PepT1/2 active transport, followed by in vivo hydrolysis post absorption. The hydrolysis rate was highly tunable, and the valine prodrug (<b>19</b>) showed the best balance of stability and exposure of the potent payload. Dosing of <b>19</b> in mouse xenograft models significantly increased arginine in the tumor microenvironment, resulting in tumor growth inhibition as a monotherapy and in combination with an anti-PD-L1 antibody. Compound <b>19</b> (AZD0011) displays good pharmacokinetics and was selected as a clinical drug candidate for cancer.
Authors
- Wenlin Shao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2417-2221)
- Eric T. Gangl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5243-2524)
- Alwin G. Schuller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9163-5885)
- Scott N. Mlynarski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7771-4031)
- Tyler Grebe
- Jason D. Shields (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9015-8594)
- M. Raymond V. Finlay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1402-193X)
- Scott Throner
- Brian Aquila
- Dedong Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9152-5093)
- Petar Pop-Damkov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4738-6584)
- Aatman S. Doshi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8579-2120)
- Susan Cantin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8674-8284)
- Qing Ye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7238-0407)
- Iain Simpson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0570-0933)
- Sameer Kawatkar
- Sharon Tentarelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2968-8120)
- Chungang Gu
- Jianyan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7831-7030)
- Haixia Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5782-8242)
- Jens Petersen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5946-4756)
- Steve Cook
- Siavash Tavakoli
Institutions
- AstraZeneca (Netherlands) (NL)
- AstraZeneca (Sweden) (SE)
- AstraZeneca (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
- Published
- 2024-11-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c02309
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Amino Acid Enzymes and Metabolism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.47