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Optimization of the potency and pharmacokinetic profile of 2,3,4-trisubstituted quinoline, 4, led to the discovery of two potent, selective, and orally bioavailable PI3Kδ inhibitors, 6a (AM-0687) and 7 (AM-1430). On the basis of their improved profile, these analogs were selected for in vivo pharmacodynamic (PD) and efficacy experiments in animal models of inflammation. The in vivo PD studies, which were carried out in a mouse pAKT inhibition animal model, confirmed the observed potency of 6a and 7 in biochemical and cellular assays. Efficacy experiments in a keyhole limpet hemocyanin model in rats demonstrated that administration of either 6a or 7 resulted in a strong dose-dependent reduction of IgG and IgM specific antibodies. The excellent in vitro and in vivo profiles of these analogs make them suitable for further development.

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease characterized by airway inflammation and hyperreactivity. IL-17 receptor A (IL-17RA) is a shared receptor subunit required for activity of IL-17 family cytokines, including IL-17A and IL-25. IL-17A and IL-25 induce different proinflammatory responses, and concentrations are elevated in subjects with asthma. However, the individual contributions of IL-17A and IL-25 to disease pathogenesis are unclear. We explored proinflammatory activities of the IL-17 pathway in models of pulmonary inflammation and assessed its effects on contractility of human bronchial airway smooth muscle. In two mouse models, IL-17RA, IL-17RB, or IL-25 blockade reduced airway inflammation and airway hyperreactivity. Individually, IL-17A and IL-25 enhanced contractility of human bronchial smooth muscle induced by methacholine or carbachol. IL-17A had more pronounced effects on methacholine-induced contractility in bronchial rings from donors with asthma compared with donors without asthma. Blocking the IL-17 pathway via IL-17RA may be a useful therapy for some patients with asthma by reducing pulmonary inflammation and airway hyperreactivity.

2,3,4-Substituted quinolines such as (10a) were found to be potent inhibitors of PI3Kδ in both biochemical and cellular assays with good selectivity over three other class I PI3K isoforms. Some of those analogs showed favorable pharmacokinetic properties.

The development and optimization of a series of quinolinylpurines as potent and selective PI3Kδ kinase inhibitors with excellent physicochemical properties are described. This medicinal chemistry effort led to the identification of 1 (AMG319), a compound with an IC50 of 16 nM in a human whole blood assay (HWB), excellent selectivity over a large panel of protein kinases, and a high level of in vivo efficacy as measured by two rodent disease models of inflammation.

Optimization of the potency and pharmacokinetic profile of 2,3,4-trisubstituted quinoline, 4, led to the discovery of two potent, selective, and orally bioavailable PI3Kδ inhibitors, 6a (AM-0687) and 7 (AM-1430). On the basis of their improved profile, these analogs were selected for in vivo pharmacodynamic (PD) and efficacy experiments in animal models of inflammation. The in vivo PD studies, which were carried out in a mouse pAKT inhibition animal model, confirmed the observed potency of 6a and 7 in biochemical and cellular assays. Efficacy experiments in a keyhole limpet hemocyanin model in rats demonstrated that administration of either 6a or 7 resulted in a strong dose-dependent reduction of IgG and IgM specific antibodies. The excellent in vitro and in vivo profiles of these analogs make them suitable for further development.

Structure-based rational design led to the synthesis of a novel series of potent PI3K inhibitors. The optimized pyrrolopyridine analogue 63 was a potent and selective PI3Kβ/δ dual inhibitor that displayed suitable physicochemical properties and pharmacokinetic profile for animal studies. Analogue 63 was found to be efficacious in animal models of inflammation including a keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) study and a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) disease model of rheumatoid arthritis. These studies highlight the potential therapeutic value of inhibiting both the PI3Kβ and δ isoforms in the treatment of a number of inflammatory diseases.

The ICOS (Inducible T cell Co-Stimulator)/B7RP-1 (B7-related protein 1) interaction is critical for the proper activation of a T lymphocyte. In this manuscript we describe a systematic in vivo approach to determine the level of blockade required to impair the generation of a T cell-dependent antibody response. We have developed an overall strategy for correlating drug exposure, target saturation, and efficacy in a biological response that can be generalized for most protein therapeutics. Using this strategy, we determined that low levels of B7RP-1 blockade are still sufficient to inhibit the immune response. These data suggest that contact between the T cell and the antigen-presenting cell during antigen presentation is much more sensitive to inhibition than previously believed and that ICOS/B7RP-1 blockade may be efficacious in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

The lymphocyte-specific kinase (Lck), a member of the Src family of cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases, is expressed in T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Genetic evidence, including knockout mice and human mutations, demonstrates that Lck kinase activity is critical for normal T cell development, activation, and signaling. Selective inhibition of Lck is expected to offer a new therapy for the treatment of T-cell-mediated autoimmune and inflammatory disease. With the aid of X-ray structure-based analysis, aminopyrimidine amides 2 and 3 were designed from aminoquinazolines 1, which had previously been demonstrated to exhibit potent inhibition of Lck and T cell proliferation. In this report, we describe the synthesis and structure-activity relationships of a series of novel aminopyrimidine amides 3 possessing improved cellular potency and selectivity profiles relative to their aminoquinazoline predecessors 1. Orally bioavailable compound 13b inhibited the anti-CD3-induced production of interleukin-2 (IL-2) in mice in a dose-dependent manner (ED 50 = 9.4 mg/kg).

Lead optimization efforts resulted in the discovery of two potent, selective, and orally bioavailable PI3Kδ inhibitors, 1 (AM-8508) and 2 (AM-9635), with good pharmacokinetic properties. The compounds inhibit B cell receptor (BCR)-mediated AKT phosphorylation (pAKT) in PI3Kδ-dependent in vitro cell based assays. These compounds which share a benzimidazole bicycle are effective when administered in vivo at unbound concentrations consistent with their in vitro cell potency as a consequence of improved unbound drug concentration with lower unbound clearance. Furthermore, the compounds demonstrated efficacy in a Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin (KLH) study in rats, where the blockade of PI3Kδ activity by inbibitors 1 and 2 led to effective inhibition of antigen-specific IgG and IgM formation after immunization with KLH.

The lymphocyte-specific kinase (Lck) is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase of the Src family expressed in T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Genetic evidence in both mice and humans demonstrates that Lck kinase activity is critical for signaling mediated by the T cell receptor (TCR), which leads to normal T cell development and activation. Selective inhibition of Lck is expected to offer a new therapy for the treatment of T-cell-mediated autoimmune and inflammatory disease. Screening of our kinase-preferred collection identified aminoquinazoline 1 as a potent, nonselective inhibitor of Lck and T cell proliferation. In this report, we describe the synthesis and structure-activity relationships of a series of novel aminoquinazolines possessing in vitro mechanism-based potency. Optimized, orally bioavailable compounds 32 and 47 exhibit anti-inflammatory activity (ED(50) of 22 and 11 mg/kg, respectively) in the anti-CD3-induced production of interleukin-2 (IL-2) in mice.

The lymphocyte-specific kinase (Lck) is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase of the Src family expressed in T cells and NK cells. Genetic evidence in both mice and humans demonstrates that Lck kinase activity is critical for signaling mediated by the T cell receptor (TCR), which leads to normal T cell development and activation. A small molecule inhibitor of Lck is expected to be useful in the treatment of T cell-mediated autoimmune and inflammatory disorders and/or organ transplant rejection. In this paper, we describe the synthesis, structure-activity relationships, and pharmacological characterization of 2-aminopyrimidine carbamates, a new class of compounds with potent and selective inhibition of Lck. The most promising compound of this series, 2,6-dimethylphenyl 2-((3,5-bis(methyloxy)-4-((3-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)propyl)oxy)phenyl)amino)-4-pyrimidinyl(2,4-bis(methyloxy)phenyl)carbamate (43) exhibits good activity when evaluated in in vitro assays and in an in vivo model of T cell activation.

Abstract 4964 Immune receptors such as the B cell receptor (BCR) require key signaling intermediate phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase delta (PI3Kδ) for normal immune cell survival, development and function. PI3Kδ is a class IA lipid kinase, is expressed primarily within the hematopoietic system and is composed of a catalytic subunit p110δ and a regulatory subunit p85. Recently, deregulated BCR-PI3Kδ signaling has been reported to play a role in B-cell malignancies such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) by mediating abnormal B-cell growth and survival. Indeed, the constitutive phosphorylation of downstream signaling intermediate AKT is associated with poor prognosis in several B cell malignancies. Here, we have investigated the potential of a novel small molecule inhibitor of PI3Kδ, AMG 319, to suppress PI3K signaling in human B cell lines and assessed the subsequent effects on viability as a single agent and in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs in preclinical models. Small molecule AMG 319 is a potent and selective inhibitor of PI3Kδ with excellent preclinical pharmacokinetic (PK) properties. AMG 319 was found to potently inhibit PI3Kδ in enzyme assays (IC50 5000 fold). Furthermore, AMG 319 was considered inactive at 10 μM on non-PI3K class I kinases in a broader kinome screen of 402 kinases. In preclinical PK studies, AMG 319 had low systemic clearance, T1/2 range of 2–4 hr, oral bioavailability of >45% and unbound fractions in plasma of 5–19%. Here, we have investigated the potential for AMG 319 to inhibit constitutive PI3K mediated signaling and effects on human B cell line viability. In a broad screen of >20 cell lines derived from B cell malignancies, the majority of lines were found to express PI3Kδ protein, all cells lines expressed the PI3Kα and β isoforms and variable levels of constitutive pAKTS473 were detected. AMG 319 was found to potently suppress constitutive pAKTS473 in the cell lines with IC50 in the low single to double digit nM range. Cellular viability was inhibited by AMG 319 though lines were variably sensitive to drug (range low double digit nM to μM IC50). As cell lines were variably sensitive to AMG 319 as a single agent, we examined if AMG 319 could enhance the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents in vitro and in vivo. These studies focused on a DLBCL cell line HT which was relatively insensitive to AMG 319 as a single agent (IC50 ∼10 μM) in viability assays even though pAKTS473 was potently suppressed (IC50 ∼ 0.030 μM). Treatment with AMG 319 was found to synergize with the effects of vincristine to reduce cell viability in vitro using a 72 hr viability assay. Next we examined whether the enhanced cytotoxicity using these drugs in combination could be observed in vivo. Using the human B-cell lymphoma HT xenograft model, we found that AMG 319 in combination with vincristine enhanced tumor growth inhibition above that observed with either agent alone. Taken together, these findings suggest that the inhibition of PI3Kδ with AMG 319 may enhance the effects of chemotherapeutic agents in B cell malignancies. In conclusion, AMG 319 is a potent and selective inhibitor of PI3Kδ with excellent PK properties. AMG 319 inhibited constitutive pAKTS473, reduced the viability of B cell lines and synergized with vincristine in vitro and in vivo. The safety, PK and preliminary efficacy of AMG 319 are currently being investigated in a Phase I trial in patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoid malignancies. Disclosures: Sinclair: Amgen: Employment, Stock and Options. Metz:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Cushing:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Liu:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Brake:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Starnes:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Means:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Henne:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Archibeque:Amgen: Employment, Stock and Options. Mattson:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Drew:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Busse:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Wang:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Al-Assaad:Amgen, Inc: Employment, Stock and Options. Molineux:Amgen: Employment, Stock and Options.