PIM kinases as therapeutic targets against advanced melanoma.

Therapeutic strategies for the treatment of metastatic melanoma show encouraging results in the clinic; however, not all patients respond equally and tumor resistance still poses a challenge. To identify novel therapeutic targets for melanoma, we screened a panel of structurally diverse organometallic inhibitors against human-derived normal and melanoma cells. We observed that a compound that targets PIM kinases (a family of Ser/Thr kinases) preferentially inhibited melanoma cell proliferation, invasion, and viability in adherent and three-dimensional (3D) melanoma models.

Octahedral rhodium(III) complexes as kinase inhibitors: Control of the relative stereochemistry with acyclic tridentate ligands.

Octahedral metal complexes are attractive structural templates for the design of enzyme inhibitors as has been demonstrated, for example, with the development of metallo-pyridocarbazoles as protein kinase inhibitors. The octahedral coordination sphere provides untapped structural opportunities but at the same time poses the drawback of dealing with a large number of stereoisomers. In order to address this challenge of controlling the relative metal-centered configuration, the synthesis of rhodium(III) pyridocarbazole complexes with facially coordinating acyclic tridentate ligands was investigated.