Q1 · MEDICINE
Article
Author: Nguyen, Duy ; Lechner, Christian ; Ganzer, Ursula ; Kaulfuss, Stefan ; Rehwinkel, Hartmut ; Drewes, Mark ; Lemos, Clara ; Chai, Jijie ; Neuhaus, Roland ; Günther, Judith ; Habgood, Matthew ; Hillig, Roman C. ; Bouché, Léa ; Zimmermann, Katja
The branched-chain amino acid transaminases (BCATs) are enzymes that catalyze the first reaction of catabolism of the essential branched-chain amino acids to branched-chain keto acids to form glutamate. They are known to play a key role in different cancer types. Here, we report a new structural class of BCAT1/2 inhibitors, (trifluoromethyl)pyrimidinediones, identified by a high-throughput screening campaign and subsequent optimization guided by a series of X-ray crystal structures. Our potent dual BCAT1/2 inhibitor BAY-069 displays high cellular activity and very good selectivity. Along with a negative control (BAY-771), BAY-069 was donated as a chemical probe to the Structural Genomics Consortium.