Rational Design of Potent and Orally Efficacious PI3Kα/δ Degrader for PIK3CA Mutant Breast Cancer without Hyperglycemic Liability
Although PROTAC technology has been reported for targeted PI3K degradation in cancer therapy, the rational design of isoform-selective PI3K PROTACs and their safety profiles compared to their cognate small-molecule inhibitors remain unexplored. We have reported a structure-guided PROTAC development strategy for selective PI3Kα/δ degradation. This approach enabled the rational design of copanlisib-based PROTACs, with top compound <b>D5</b> achieving catalytic degradation efficiency (PI3Kα DC<sub>50</sub> = 0.05 nM in T47D cells), >10,000-fold degradation selectivity over the PI3Kβ and PI3Kγ isoforms and minimal off-target effects across >7000 profiled proteins. <b>D5</b> demonstrated potent sensitivity toward tumor cell lines driven by the oncogenic <i>PIK3CA H1047R</i> mutation. Orally administered <b>D5</b> (40 mg/kg) significantly inhibited tumor growth (65% TGI) in xenograft models without inducing metabolic dysregulation. <b>D5</b> may offer a therapeutic option for human breast cancer harboring the <i>PIK3CA H1047R</i> mutation.
Authors
- Shuyang Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8415-4856)
- Jiayu Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9264-218X)
- Yasheng Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6843-1433)
- Xing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8537-7186)
- Yunfei Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9443-4026)
- Yiwen Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1711-6870)
- Wenjian Min
- Chengliang Sun
- Hao Shen
- Liping Wang
- Han Qin
- Xinqing Zheng
- Zhongrui Shi
- Peng Yang
- Kai Yuan
- Chenxun Kang
Institutions
- China Pharmaceutical University (CN)
- National Medical Products Administration (CN)
- Medicina (PL)
- Innovative Research (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
- Published
- 2026-03-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c03368
- Primary Topic
- Protein Degradation and Inhibitors
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00