Discovery of LL-K8-22: A Selective, Durable, and Small-Molecule Degrader of the CDK8-Cyclin C Complex

J Med Chem. 2023 Apr 13;66(7):4932-4951. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c02045. Epub 2023 Mar 17.

Abstract

The CDK8-cyclin C complex is an important anti-tumor target, but unlike CDK8, cyclin C remains undruggable. Modulators regulating cyclin C activity directly are still under development. Here, a series of hydrophobic tagging-based degraders of the CDK8-cyclin C complex were designed, synthesized, and evaluated to identify the first dual degrader, LL-K8-22, which induced selective and synchronous degradation of CDK8 and cyclin C. Proteomic and immunoblot studies exhibited that LL-K8-22 significantly degraded CDK8 without reducing CDK19 and did not degrade other cyclin proteins except cyclin C. Moreover, LL-K8-22 showed enhanced anti-proliferative effects over its parental molecule, BI-1347, with potency increased by 5-fold in MDA-MB-468 cells. LL-K8-22 exhibited more pronounced effects on CDK8-cyclin C downstream signaling than BI-1347, suppressing STAT1 phosphorylation more persistently. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that LL-K8-22 inhibited E2F- and MYC-driven carcinogenic transcriptional programs. Overall, LL-K8-22 is the first-in-class degrader of cyclin C and would be useful for studying the unknown functions of cyclin C.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cyclin C* / metabolism
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 8 / metabolism
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinases* / metabolism
  • Phosphorylation
  • Proteomics
  • Signal Transduction

Substances

  • Cyclin C
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 8
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinases
  • BI-1347