ZSTK474 is an ATP-competitive inhibitor of class I phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase isoforms

Class I phosphatidylinositol 3 kinases (PI3K) phosphorylate phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate to generate phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate. These molecules play an important role in fundamental cellular responses. Four isoforms of class I PI3K are known to have different functions, and abnormalities in their activities have been related to various diseases such as cancer and inflammation. We previously identified a novel PI3K inhibitor, ZSTK474, which showed potent antitumor activity in vivo against a human cancer xenograft without observable toxicity. However, the mode of its molecular action was not investigated in detail. Our previous study only suggested that ZSTK474 possibly competes with ATP for the ATP-binding pocket of PI3K gamma. In the present study, we have used an in vitro homogenous time-resolved fluorescence kinase assay to examine whether ZSTK474 is indeed an ATP-competing inhibitor of PI3K, and also to determine whether the inhibitory activity of ZSTK474 was isoform-specific. Lineweaver-Burk plot analysis revealed that ZSTK474 inhibits all four PI3K isoforms in an ATP-competitive manner. Among all of the PI3K isoforms, PI3K delta was inhibited most potently by ZSTK474 with a K-i of 1.8 nM, and the other isoforms were inhibited at higher doses. We have also used a kinase activity ELISA to determine whether ZSTK474 inhibits mammalian target of rapamycin, a key kinase acting downstream of PI3K to promote protein synthesis and cell proliferation. Even at a concentration of 100 mu M, ZSTK474 inhibited mammalian target of rapamycin activity rather weakly. These results indicate that ZSTK474 is an ATP-competitive pan-class I PI3K inhibitor.