VU-6001192

Axl is a new potential target for anticancer drug discovery. A series of 4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxamides were designed and synthesized as highly potent Axl kinase inhibitors. One of the most promising compounds, 9im, tightly bound with Axl protein and potently inhibited its kinase function with a Kd value of 2.7 nM and an IC50 value of 4.0 nM, respectively, while was obviously less potent against most of the 403 wild-type kinases evaluated at a relatively high concentration. The compound dose-dependently inhibited the TGF-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and suppressed the migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. In addition, 9im also demonstrated reasonable pharmacokinetics properties in rats and exhibited in vivo therapeutic effect on hepatic metastasis in a xenograft model of highly metastatic 4T1 murine breast cancer cells. Compound 9im may serve as a lead compound for new anticancer drug discovery and a valuable research probe for further biological investigation on Axl.

Both orthosteric and allosteric antagonists of the group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGlus) have been used to establish a link between mGlu2/3 inhibition and a variety of CNS diseases and disorders. Though these tools typically have good selectivity for mGlu2/3 versus the remaining six members of the mGlu family, compounds that are selective for only one of the individual group II mGlus have proved elusive. Herein we report on the discovery of a potent and highly selective mGlu2 negative allosteric modulator 58 (VU6001192) from a series of 4-oxo-1-aryl-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxamides. The concept for the design of this series centered on morphing a quinoline series recently disclosed in the patent literature into a chemotype previously used for the preparation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype 1 positive allosteric modulators. Compound 58 exhibits a favorable profile and will be a useful tool for understanding the biological implications of selective inhibition of mGlu2 in the CNS.