Pharmacophore identification of PAK4 inhibitors

p21-activated kinase 4 (PAK4) is a serine-threonine protein kinase which plays an important role in a wide variety of human diseases including cancer. The inhibition of this kinase is of great interest for the treatment of cancer. In the present study, we report three pharmacophore models of PAK4 based on a small set of PAK4 inhibitors, a crystal structure of PAK4 and a docked complex between PAK4 and a potent inhibitor. These results might provide useful and reliable tools in identifying structurally diverse compounds with desired biological activity.