Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of 4-benzoylamino-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide derivatives as potent CDK2 inhibitors

Tumour-associated cell cycle defects are often mediated by alterations in cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) activity. Misregulated CDKs induce unscheduled proliferation as well as genomic and chromosomal instability. According to current models, mammalian CDKs are essential for driving each cell cycle phase, so therapeutic strategies that block CDK activity are unlikely to selectively target tumour cells. However, recent genetic evidence has revealed that, whereas CDK1 is required for the cell cycle, interphase CDKs are only essential for proliferation of specialized cells. Emerging evidence suggests that tumour cells may also require specific interphase CDKs for proliferation. Thus, selective CDK inhibition may provide therapeutic benefit against certain human neoplasias.

Summary Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are protein kinases characterized by needing a separate subunit - a cyclin - that provides domains essential for enzymatic activity. CDKs play important roles in the control of cell division and modulate transcription in response to several extra- and intracellular cues. The evolutionary expansion of the CDK family in mammals led to the division of CDKs into three cell-cycle-related subfamilies (Cdk1, Cdk4 and Cdk5) and five transcriptional subfamilies (Cdk7, Cdk8, Cdk9, Cdk11 and Cdk20). Unlike the prototypical Cdc28 kinase of budding yeast, most of these CDKs bind one or a few cyclins, consistent with functional specialization during evolution. This review summarizes how, although CDKs are traditionally separated into cell-cycle or transcriptional CDKs, these activities are frequently combined in many family members. Not surprisingly, deregulation of this family of proteins is a hallmark of several diseases, including cancer, and drug-targeted inhibition of specific members has generated very encouraging results in clinical trials.

DNA damage is a relatively common event in the life of a cell and may lead to mutation, cancer, and cellular or organismic death. Damage to DNA induces several cellular responses that enable the cell either to eliminate or cope with the damage or to activate a programmed cell death process, presumably to eliminate cells with potentially catastrophic mutations. These DNA damage response reactions include: (a) removal of DNA damage and restoration of the continuity of the DNA duplex; (b) activation of a DNA damage checkpoint, which arrests cell cycle progression so as to allow for repair and prevention of the transmission of damaged or incompletely replicated chromosomes; (c) transcriptional response, which causes changes in the transcription profile that may be beneficial to the cell; and (d) apoptosis, which eliminates heavily damaged or seriously deregulated cells. DNA repair mechanisms include direct repair, base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, double-strand break repair, and cross-link repair. The DNA damage checkpoints employ damage sensor proteins, such as ATM, ATR, the Rad17-RFC complex, and the 9-1-1 complex, to detect DNA damage and to initiate signal transduction cascades that employ Chk1 and Chk2 Ser/Thr kinases and Cdc25 phosphatases. The signal transducers activate p53 and inactivate cyclin-dependent kinases to inhibit cell cycle progression from G1 to S (the G1/S checkpoint), DNA replication (the intra-S checkpoint), or G2 to mitosis (the G2/M checkpoint). In this review the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair and the DNA damage checkpoints in mammalian cells are analyzed.