Rezivertinib

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is considered the second deadliest cancer in the world. One of the reasons for the occurrence of this cancer is the deregulation of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), which plays a critical role in regulating cell division, persistence, differentiation, and migration. The overexpression of the EGFR protein leads to its dysregulation and causes CRC.

Hence, this work aims to identify and validate novel EGFR inhibitors for the treatment of colorectal cancer employing various computer aided techniques such as pharmacophore modeling, docking, molecular dynamic simulation and Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) analysis.

In this work, a shared-featured ligand-based pharmacophore model was generated using the known inhibitors of EGFR. The best model was validated and screened against ZincPharmer and Maybridge databases, and 143 hits were obtained. Pharmacokinetic and toxicological properties of these hits were studied, and the acceptable ligands were docked against EGFR. The best five protein-ligand complexes with binding energy less than -5 kcal/mol were selected. The molecular dynamic simulation studies of these complexes were conducted for 100 nanoseconds (ns), and the results were analyzed. The biological activity of this ligand was calculated using QSAR analysis.

The best complex with Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) 3.429 Å and Radius of Gyration (RoG) 20.181 Å was selected. The Root Mean Square Fluctuations (RMSF) results were also found to be satisfactory. The biological activity of this ligand was found to be 1.38 μM.

This work hereby proposes the ligand 2-((1,6-dimethyl-4-oxo-1,4-dihydropyridin-3-yl)oxy)-N- (1H-indol-4-yl)acetamide as a potential EGFR inhibitor for the treatment of colorectal cancer. The wet lab analysis must be conducted, however, to confirm this hypothesis.

The incidence and mortality of lung cancer rank first among malignant tumors in China. Among them, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most important pathological type, accounting for 80%-85% of lung cancer patients, including adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and other pathological subtypes. In recent years, with the discovery of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene and the successful development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), the treatment efficacy of stage Ⅳ NSCLC patients with EGFR gene sensitive mutation has been greatly improved. As of August 23, 2023, the first generation EGFR-TKIs, gefitinib, icotinib, and erlotinib; the second generation EGFR-TKIs, afatinib and dacomitinib; and the third generation EGFR-TKIs, osimertinib, almonertinib, furmonertinib and befotertinib were all approved for marketing by China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). In addition, multiple domestic third-generation EGFR-TKIs are undergoing clinical trials, such as rezivertinib (BPI-7711), limertinib (ASK120067), and oritinib (SH-1028). Meanwhile, mobocertinib and sunvozertinib, which targets EGFR 20ins mutations, were also approved by NMPA. With the increasing variety of EGFR-TKIs approved for marketing subsequently, it brings confusion to clinicians when choosing specific medications, and there is an urgent need to develop relevant treatment guidelines. Hence, the Medical Oncology Branch of China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care and the Chinese Association for Clinical Oncologists convened experts to integrate the research results of various EGFR-TKIs, and proposed the "China clinical practice guideline for epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors in stage Ⅳ non-small cell lung cancer (version 2023)", to provide reference for better clinical practice.