Development of Substituted Phenyl Dihydrouracil as the Novel Achiral Cereblon Ligands for Targeted Protein Degradation

J Med Chem. 2023 Feb 23;66(4):2904-2917. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c01941. Epub 2023 Feb 7.

Abstract

Glutarimides such as thalidomide, pomalidomide, and lenalidomide are the most frequently used ligands to recruit E3 ubiquitin ligase cereblon (CRBN) for the development of proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs). Due to the rapid and spontaneous racemization of glutarimides, most CRBN-recruiting PROTACs are synthesized as a mixture of racemates or diastereomers. Since the (S)-enantiomer is primarily responsible for binding to CRBN, the existence of the largely inactive (R)-enantiomer complicates the drug development process. Herein, we report that substituted achiral phenyl dihydrouracil (PDHU) can be used as a novel class of CRBN ligands for the development of PROTACs. Although the parent PDHU has a minimal binding affinity to CRBN, we found that some substituted PDHUs had a comparable binding affinity to lenalidomide. Structural modeling provided a further understanding of the molecular interactions between PDHU ligands and CRBN. PDHUs also have greater stability than lenalidomide. Finally, potent BRD4 degraders were developed by employing trisubstituted PDHUs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing* / metabolism
  • Lenalidomide / metabolism
  • Ligands
  • Nuclear Proteins* / metabolism
  • Proteolysis* / drug effects
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases* / metabolism

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • dihydrouracil
  • Lenalidomide
  • Ligands
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Transcription Factors
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases
  • CRBN protein, human