Discovery of pteridin-7(8 H)-one-based irreversible inhibitors targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase T790M/L858R mutant

The EGFR T790M variant is an important mutation, resulting in approximately 50% of the clinically acquired resistance to approved EGFR inhibitors. Starting with a previously reported pyrimidine-based EGFR inhibitor, a novel pteridin-7(8H)-one scaffold with a high 3D similarity was found and transformed into irreversible inhibitors of the EGFR T790M mutant. The most potent compounds, 3q and 3x, exhibited excellent enzyme inhibitory activities, with subnanomolar IC₅₀ values for both the wild-type and T790M/L858R double mutant EGFRs, as well as potent cellular antiproliferative activities against both gefitinib-sensitive and -resistant cancer cell lines. The in vivo antitumor efficacy study demonstrated that compound 3x significantly inhibited tumor growth and induced tumor stasis in an EGFR-T790M/L858R-driven human nonsmall-cell lung cancer xenograft mouse model. This work demonstrated the utility of this sophisticated computational design strategy for fast 3D scaffold hopping with competitive bioactivities to meet an important clinical need.