2. Academic Validation
  3. HDAC/NAMPT dual inhibitors overcome initial drug-resistance in p53-null leukemia cells

HDAC/NAMPT dual inhibitors overcome initial drug-resistance in p53-null leukemia cells

  • Eur J Med Chem. 2024 Jan 5:266:116127. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116127.
Kairui Yue 1,  Simin Sun 1,  Enqiang Liu 1,  Jinyu Liu 1,  Baogeng Hou 1,  Kangjing Qi 1,  C James Chou 2,  Yuqi Jiang 3,  Xiaoyang Li 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266071, China.
  • 2 Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425, United States; Neuroene Therapeutics, JLABS at the Children's National Research and Innovation Campus, 7144 13th PL NW, Washington, DC, 20012-2358, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 3 Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266003, China; Center for Targeted Protein Degradation and Drug Discovery, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong, 266003, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 4 Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266003, China; Center for Targeted Protein Degradation and Drug Discovery, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong, 266003, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 38224650 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116127
Abstract

The occurrence of Cancer is closely related to metabolism and Epigenetics. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) play a crucial role in the regulation of gene expression as epigenetic regulators, while nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) is significantly involved in maintaining cellular metabolism. In this study, we rationally designed a series of novel HDAC/NAMPT dual inhibitors based on the structural similarity between HDAC and NAMPT inhibitors. The representative compounds 39a and 39h exhibit significant selective inhibitory activity on HDAC1-3 with IC50 values of 0.71-25.1 nM, while displaying modest activity against NAMPT. Compound 39h did not exhibit inhibitory activity against 370 kinases, demonstrating its target specificity. These two compounds exhibit potent anti-proliferative activity in multiple leukemia cell lines with low nanomolar IC50s. It is worth noticing that the dual inhibitors 39a and 39h overcome the primary resistance of HDAC or NAMPT single target inhibitor in p53-null AML cell lines, with the induction of apoptosis-related cell death. NMN recovers the cell death induced by HDAC/NAMPT dual inhibitors, which indicates the lethal effects are caused by the inhibition of NAD biosynthesis pathway as well as HDAC. This research provides an effective strategy to overcome the limitations of HDAC inhibitors in treating p53-null leukemia.

Keywords

Anti-cancer; HDAC inhibitor; Histone deacetylases; Multi-target inhibitor; Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase.

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