Journal
BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY
Volume 69, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2022.116812
Keywords
Duchenne muscular dystrophy; Utrophin modulator; Carbohydrazide; Phenotypic screening; LUmdx
Funding
- Medical Research Council (MRC) [MR/N010698/1]
- Summit Therapeutics
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This study reports early optimization studies on a new class of hydrazide utrophin modulators. The new analogues showed significantly improved potency in cell-based assays and improved physicochemical properties. A representative new analogue increased utrophin protein expression in dystrophic mouse cells.
A therapeutic approach that holds the potential to treat all Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patient populations is utrophin modulation. Ezutromid, a first generation utrophin modulator which was later found to act via antagonism of the arylhydrocarbon receptor, progressed to Phase 2 clinical trials. Although interim data showed target engagement and functional improvements, ezutromid ultimately failed to meet its clinical endpoints. We recently described the identification of a new class of hydrazide utrophin modulators which has a different mechanism of action to ezutromid. In this study we report our early optimisation studies on this hydrazide series. The new analogues had significantly improved potency in cell-based assays, increased sp(3) character and reduced lipophilicity, which also improved their physicochemical properties. A representative new analogue combining these attributes increased utrophin protein in dystrophic mouse cells showing it can be used as a chemical tool to reveal new insights regarding utrophin upregulation as a strategy for DMD therapeutic intervention.
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