Small Molecule Antagonists of the DNA Repair ERCC1/XPA Protein-Protein Interaction.

The DNA excision repair protein ERCC1 and the DNA damage sensor protein, XPA are highly overexpressed in patient samples of cisplatin-resistant solid tumors including lung, bladder, ovarian, and testicular cancer. The repair of cisplatin-DNA crosslinks is dependent upon nucleotide excision repair (NER) that is modulated by protein-protein binding interactions of ERCC1, the endonuclease, XPF, and XPA. Thus, inhibition of their function is a potential therapeutic strategy for the selective sensitization of tumors to DNA-damaging platinum-based cancer therapy.

Structure-based discovery of small molecule hepsin and HGFA protease inhibitors: Evaluation of potency and selectivity derived from distinct binding pockets.

Hepatocyte growth factor activator (HGFA), matriptase and hepsin are all S1 trypsin-like serine endopeptidases. HGFA is a plasma protease while hepsin and matriptase are type II transmembrane proteases (TTSPs). Upregulated expression and activity of all three proteases is associated with aberrant cancer cell signaling through c-MET and RON tyrosine kinase cell-signaling pathways in cancer.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of substituted benzoxazoles as inhibitors of mPGES-1: use of a conformation-based hypothesis to facilitate compound design.

Microsomal prostaglandin E(2) synthase-1 (mPGES-1) is a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammation and pain. In the preceding letter, we detailed the discovery of clinical candidate PF-04693627, a potent mPGES-1 inhibitor possessing a novel benzoxazole structure. While PF-04693627 was undergoing further preclinical profiling, we sought to identify a back-up mPGES-1 inhibitor that differentiated itself from PF-04693627.