Journal
DRUG DESIGN DEVELOPMENT AND THERAPY
Volume 14, Issue -, Pages 1779-1798Publisher
DOVE MEDICAL PRESS LTD
DOI: 10.2147/DDDT.S249156
Keywords
virtual docking; HCC; kinase inhibitor; mTOR; radiosensitizer
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Funding
- program for the National Natural Science Foundation of China-Youth Foundation [81502906]
- Graduate Innovative Fund of Wuhan Institute of Technology [CX2018001]
- Natural Science Foundation of Beijing, China [7172205]
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Background: Radiotherapy has an ameliorative effect on a wide variety of tumors, but hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is insensitive to this treatment. Overactivated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays an important part in the resistance of HCC to radiotherapy; thus, mTOR inhibitors have potential as novel radiosensitizers to enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy for HCC. Methods: A lead compound was found based on pharmacophore modeling and molecular docking, and optimized according to the differences between the ATP-binding pockets of mTOR and PI3K. The radio sensitizing effect of the optimized compound (2a) was confirmed by colony formation assays and DNA double-strand break assays in vitro. The discovery and preclinical characteristics of this compound are described. Results: The key amino acid residues in mTOR were identified, and a precise virtual screening model was constructed. Compound 2a, with a 4,7-dihydro-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine scaffold, exhibited promising potency against mTOR (mTOR IC50=7.1 nmol/L (nM)) with 126-fold selectivity over PI3K alpha. Moreover, 2a significantly enhanced the sensitivity of HCC to radiotherapy in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: A new class of selective mTOR inhibitors was developed and their radiosensitization effects were confirmed. This study also provides a basis for developing mTOR-specific inhibitors for use as radiosensitizers for HCC radiotherapy.
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