In Silico Design and Biological Evaluation of a Dual Specificity Kinase Inhibitor Targeting Cell Cycle Progression and Angiogenesis: e110997

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 11
• Main Authors: Latham, Antony M, Kankanala, Jayakanth, Fearnley, Gareth W, Gage, Matthew C, Kearney, Mark T, Homer-Vanniasinkam, Shervanthi, Wheatcroft, Stephen B, Fishwick, Colin WG, Ponnambalam, Sreenivasan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.11.2014
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110997

Background Protein kinases play a central role in tumor progression, regulating fundamental processes such as angiogenesis, proliferation and metastasis. Such enzymes are an increasingly important class of drug target with small molecule kinase inhibitors being a major focus in drug development. However, balancing drug specificity and efficacy is problematic with off-target effects and toxicity issues. Methodology We have utilized a rational in silico-based approach to demonstrate the design and study of a novel compound that acts as a dual inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1). This compound acts by simultaneously inhibiting pro-angiogenic signal transduction and cell cycle progression in primary endothelial cells. JK-31 displays potent in vitro activity against recombinant VEGFR2 and CDK1/cyclin B proteins comparable to previously characterized inhibitors. Dual inhibition of the vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A)-mediated signaling response and CDK1-mediated mitotic entry elicits anti-angiogenic activity both in an endothelial-fibroblast co-culture model and a murine ex vivo model of angiogenesis. Conclusions We deduce that JK-31 reduces the growth of both human endothelial cells and human breast cancer cells in vitro. This novel synthetic molecule has broad implications for development of similar multi-kinase inhibitors with anti-angiogenic and anti-cancer properties. In silico design is an attractive and innovative method to aid such drug discovery.