Synthesis and evaluation of novel inhibitors of pim-1 and pim-2 protein kinases

The Pim protein kinases are frequently overexpressed in prostate cancer and certain forms of leukemia and lymphoma. 5-(3-Trifluoromethylbenzylidene) thiazolidine-2,4-dione (4a) was identified by screening to be a Pim-1 inhibitor and was found to attenuate the autophosphorylation of tagged Pim-1 in intact cells. Although 4a is a competitive inhibitor with respect to ATP, a screen of approximately 50 diverse protein kinases demonstrated that it has high selectivity for Pim kinases. Computational docking of 4a to Pim-1 provided a model for lead optimization, and a series of substituted thiazolidine-2,4-dione congeners was synthesized. The most potent new compounds exhibited IC ₅₀s of 13 nM for Pim-1 and 2.3 μM for Pim-2. Additional compounds in the series demonstrated selectivities of more than 2500-fold and 400-fold for Pim-1 or Pim- 2, respectively, while other congeners were essentially equally potent toward the two isozymes. Overall, these compounds are new Pim kinase inhibitors that may provide leads to novel anticancer agents.