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Discovery of a First-in-Class Degrader for the Lipid Kinase PIKfyve.

Chungen LiYuanyuan QiaoXia JiangLianchao LiuYang ZhengYudi QiuCaleb ChengFengtao ZhouYang ZhouWeixue HuangXiaomei RenYuzhuo WangZhen WangArul M ChinnaiyanKe Ding
Published in: Journal of medicinal chemistry (2023)
The phosphoinositide kinase PIKfyve has emerged as a new potential therapeutic target in various cancers. However, limited clinical progress has been achieved with PIKfyve inhibitors. Here, we report the discovery of a first-in-class PIKfyve degrader 12d (PIK5-12d) by employing the proteolysis-targeting chimera approach. PIK5-12d potently degraded PIKfyve protein with a DC 50 value of 1.48 nM and a D max value of 97.7% in prostate cancer VCaP cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that it selectively induced PIKfyve degradation in a VHL- and proteasome-dependent manner. PIKfyve degradation by PIK5-12d caused massive cytoplasmic vacuolization and blocked autophagic flux in multiple prostate cancer cell lines. Importantly, PIK5-12d was more effective in suppressing the growth of prostate cancer cells than the parent inhibitor and exerted prolonged inhibition of downstream signaling. Further, intraperitoneal administration of PIK5-12d exhibited potent PIKfyve degradation and suppressed tumor proliferation in vivo. Overall, PIK5-12d is a valuable chemical tool for exploring PIKfyve-based targeted therapy.
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