Ebastine

Background: Most tumors initially respond to treatment, yet refractory clones subsequently develop owing to resistance mechanisms associated with cancer cell plasticity and heterogeneity. Methods: We used a chemical biology approach to identify protein targets in cancer cells exhibiting diverse driver mutations and representing models of tumor lineage plasticity and therapy resistance. An unbiased screen of a drug library was performed against cancer cells followed by synthesis of chemical analogs of the most effective drug. The cancer subtype target range of the leading drug was determined by PRISM analysis of over 900 cancer cell lines at the Broad Institute, MA. RNA-sequencing and enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes, as well as computational molecular modeling and pull-down with biotinylated small molecules were used to identify and validate RPS6KB1 (p70S6K or S6K1) as an essential target. Genetic restoration was used to test the functional role of S6K1 in cell culture and xenograft models. Results: We identified a novel derivative of the antihistamine drug ebastine, designated Super-ebastine (Super-EBS), that inhibited the viability of cancer cells representing diverse KRAS and EGFR driver mutations and models of plasticity and treatment resistance. Interestingly, PRISM analysis indicated that over 95% of the diverse cancer cell lines tested were sensitive to Super-EBS and the predicted target was the serine/threonine kinase S6K1. S6K1 is upregulated in various cancers relative to counterpart normal/benign tissues and phosphorylated-S6K1 predicts poor prognosis for cancer patients. We noted that inhibition of S6K1 phosphorylation was necessary for tumor cell growth inhibition, and restoration of phospho-S6K1 rendered tumor cells resistant to Super-EBS. Inhibition of S6K1 phosphorylation by Super-EBS induced caspase-2 dependent apoptosis via inhibition of the Cdc42/Rac-1/p-PAK1 pathway that led to actin depolymerization and caspase-2 activation. The essential role of S6K1 in the action of Super-EBS was recapitulated in xenografts, and knockout of S6K1 abrogated tumor growth in mice. Conclusion: S6K1 is a therapeutic vulnerability in tumors exhibiting intrinsic and/or acquired resistance to treatment.

The direct utilization of aqueous acetaldehyde as an industrially important aqueous chemical has been hampered in organic synthesis due to the high reactivity of acetaldehyde. Herein, the first metal-free photocatalyzed selective α-monoalkylation of commercially available and safe to handle aqueous acetaldehyde (40 wt %) with inexpensive α-chloro/bromoacetophenones has been developed using 0.5 mol % 4CzIPN as an organic photosensitizer, which provides easy access to high-added-value α,β-unsubstituted 1,4-ketoaldehydes. The reaction features a broad substrate scope, high functional group tolerance, gram-scalability, operational simplicity, and mild reaction conditions. Moreover, the synthetic applications are demonstrated by directly using aqueous solutions of acetaldehyde as synthetically useful a C2 synthon for the modular and expeditious synthesis of various biologically active γ-aminoketones through the reductive amination of the α,β-unsubstituted 1,4-ketoaldehyde products with cyclic secondary amines, as well as the concise gram-scale total synthesis of pentabromo- and pentachloropseudilins.