2. Academic Validation
  3. Discovery of pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives as novel FLT3/IRAK4 inhibitors

Discovery of pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives as novel FLT3/IRAK4 inhibitors

  • Eur J Med Chem. 2025 Jun 13:296:117845. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2025.117845.
Haibin Yuan 1,  Yue Gao 2,  Peipei Wang 3,  Xiaowu Dong 1,  Jia Li 2,  Chenxi Wang 1,  Jinxin Che 4,  Yubo Zhou 5,  Tao Liu 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Drug Discovery and Design, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou, 310058, PR China.
  • 2 School of Chinese Materia Medica, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Zhongshan Institute for Drug Discovery, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongshan, 528400, PR China.
  • 3 School of Chinese Materia Medica, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
  • 4 Institute of Drug Discovery and Design, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou, 310058, PR China. Electronic address: chejx@zju.edu.cn.
  • 5 School of Chinese Materia Medica, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Zhongshan Institute for Drug Discovery, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongshan, 528400, PR China. Electronic address: ybzhou@simm.ac.cn.
  • 6 Institute of Drug Discovery and Design, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou, 310058, PR China; National Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Delivery and Release Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China; Hangzhou Institute of Innovative Medicine, Institute of Drug Discovery and Design, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, PR China. Electronic address: lt601@zju.edu.cn.
PMID: 40532500 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2025.117845
Abstract

Starting with the lead compound L-1, a series of pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives were developed as FLT3/IRAK4 inhibitors through three rounds of rational structural optimization. Among them, HB-29 had the remarkable activity towards FLT3-WT (IC50 = 1.95 nM) and IRAK4 (IC50 = 53.72 nM), outperforming the positive control, CA-4948. Besides, it exhibited excellent activities in MV4-11, MOLM3, and BaF3 cells with varying FLT3-TKD and FLT3-ITD-TKD mutations, highlighting its potential to overcome acquired resistance. The toxicity of HB-29 to normal bone marrow cell line HS-5 is relatively low (SI > 2000). Mechanistic studies revealed that HB-29 inhibited FLT3 and IRAK4 pathways in a dose-dependent manner, promoting cell Apoptosis. Notably, in the cytokine-induced cell model, HB-29 efficiently induced Apoptosis, and while also enhancing SOD activity and reducing ROS accumulation, thereby demonstrating its potential to overcome adaptive resistance. Moreover, HB-29 demonstrated an acceptable bioavailability (F = 13.4 %). These findings confirm that FLT3/IRAK4 Inhibitor is a promising strategy for the treatment of AML.

Keywords

AML; Acquired resistance; Adaptive resistance; FLT3/IRAK4 inhibitor; Pyrrolo [2,3-d] pyrimidine.

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