Identification of Potent, Selective, and Orally Bioavailable Small-Molecule GSPT1/2 Degraders from a Focused Library of Cereblon Modulators

Whereas the PROTAC approach to target protein degradation greatly benefits from rational design, the discovery of small-molecule degraders relies mostly on phenotypic screening and retrospective target identification efforts. Here, we describe the design, synthesis, and screening of a large diverse library of thalidomide analogues against a panel of patient-derived leukemia and medulloblastoma cell lines. These efforts led to the discovery of potent and novel GSPT1/2 degraders displaying selectivity over classical IMiD neosubstrates, such as IKZF1/3, and high oral bioavailability in mice. Taken together, this study offers compound 6 (SJ6986) as a valuable chemical probe for studying the role of GSPT1/2 in vitro and in vivo, and it supports the utility of a diverse library of CRBN binders in the pursuit of targeting undruggable oncoproteins.

Automated summary

This study describes the design, synthesis, and screening of a large diverse library of thalidomide analogues against leukemia and medulloblastoma cell lines, leading to the discovery of potent GSPT1/2 degraders with selectivity over IMiD neosubstrates and high oral bioavailability in mice. Compound 6 (SJ6986) is proposed as a valuable tool for studying the role of GSPT1/2 and supports the utility of a diverse library of CRBN binders in targeting undruggable oncoproteins.