Identification and Optimization of RNA-Splicing Modulators as Huntingtin Protein-Lowering Agents for the Treatment of Huntington's Disease
- J Med Chem. 2023 Sep 28;66(18):13205-13246. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c01173.
- 1. CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation, 6080 Center Drive, Los Angeles, California 90045, United States.
- 2. Discovery from Charles River, Charles River, Chesterford Research Park, Saffron Walden CB10 1XL, U.K.
- 3. Charles River, Darwinweg 24, 2333 CR Leiden, The Netherlands.
- 4. Charles River, Microkatu 1, Kuopio 70210 Finland.
- 5. IRBM S.p.A., Pomezia, Roma 00071, Italy.
- 6. Curia Global, Inc., Buffalo, New York 14203, United States.
Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by an expanded CAG trinucleotide repeat in exon 1 of the Huntingtin (HTT) gene. We report the design of a series of HTT pre-mRNA splicing modulators that lower Huntingtin (HTT) protein, including the toxic mutant Huntingtin (mHTT), by promoting insertion of a pseudoexon containing a premature termination codon at the exon 49-50 junction. The resulting transcript undergoes nonsense-mediated decay, leading to a reduction of HTT mRNA transcripts and protein levels. The starting benzamide core was modified to pyrazine amide and further optimized to give a potent, CNS-penetrant, and orally bioavailable HTT-splicing modulator 27. This compound reduced canonical splicing of the HTT RNA exon 49-50 and demonstrated significant HTT-lowering in both human HD stem cells and mouse BACHD models. Compound 27 is a structurally diverse HTT-splicing modulator that may help understand the mechanism of adverse effects such as peripheral neuropathy associated with branaplam.
-
Cat. No.Product NameDescriptionTargetResearch Area
-
target: HuntingtinResearch Areas: Neurological Disease