Discovery of Novel Fedratinib-Based HDAC/JAK/BRD4 Triple Inhibitors with Remarkable Antitumor Activity against Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Molecular hybridization: a powerful tool for multitarget drug discovery

INTRODUCTION

The current drug discovery paradigm of 'one drug, multiple targets' has gained attention from both the academic medicinal chemistry community and the pharmaceutical industry. This is in response to the urgent need for effective agents to treat multifactorial chronic diseases. The molecular hybridization strategy is a useful tool that has been widely explored, particularly in the last two decades, for the design of multi-target drugs.

AREAS COVERED

This review examines the current state of molecular hybridization in guiding the discovery of multitarget small molecules. The article discusses the design strategies and target selection for a multitarget polypharmacology approach to treat various diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, cardiac arrhythmia, endometriosis, and inflammatory diseases.

EXPERT OPINION

Although the examples discussed highlight the importance of molecular hybridization for the discovery of multitarget bioactive compounds, it is notorious that the literature has focused on specific classes of targets. This may be due to a deep understanding of the pharmacophore features required for target binding, making targets such as histone deacetylases and cholinesterases frequent starting points. However, it is important to encourage the scientific community to explore diverse combinations of targets using the molecular hybridization strategy.

Emerging therapeutic strategies in cancer therapy by HDAC inhibition as the chemotherapeutic potent and epigenetic regulator

In developing new cancer medications, attention has been focused on novel epigenetic medicines called histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. Our understanding of cancer behavior is being advanced by research on epigenetics, which also supplies new targets for improving the effectiveness of cancer therapy. Most recently published patents emphasize HDAC selective drugs and multitarget HDAC inhibitors. Though significant progress has been made in emerging HDAC selective antagonists, it is urgently necessary to find new HDAC blockers with novel zinc-binding analogues to avoid the undesirable pharmacological characteristics of hydroxamic acid. HDAC antagonists have lately been explored as a novel approach to treating various diseases, including cancer. The complicated terrain of HDAC inhibitor development is summarized in this article, starting with a discussion of the many HDAC isotypes and their involvement in cancer biology, followed by a discussion of the mechanisms of action of HDAC inhibitors, their current level of development, effect of miRNA, and their combination with immunotherapeutic.

Recent advances in multitarget-directed ligands via in silico drug discovery

To combat multifactorial refractory diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases, multitarget drugs have become an emerging area of research aimed at 'synthetic lethality' (SL) relationships associated with drug-resistance mechanisms. In this review, we discuss the in silico design of dual and triple-targeted ligands, strategies by which specific 'warhead' groups are incorporated into a parent compound or scaffold with primary inhibitory activity against one target to develop one small molecule that inhibits two or three molecular targets in an effort to increase potency against multifactorial diseases. We also discuss the analytical exploration of structure-activity relationships (SARs), physicochemical properties, polypharmacology, scaffold feature extraction of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved multikinase inhibitors (MKIs), and updates regarding the clinical status of dual-targeted chemotypes.

Case report: Safety and efficacy of synergistic treatment using selinexor and azacitidine in patients with atypical chronic myeloid leukemia with resistance to decitabine

Background

Atypical chronic myeloid leukemia (aCML) is a BCR::ABL1 negative myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm with poor overall survival. Some patients can be treated by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) from suitable donors. The effectiveness of decitabine or azacitidine (AZA) has recently been reported; however, their combined efficacy with selinexor has not yet been reported.

Case description

In this study, we report the case of a patient with aCML who was successfully treated with selinexor combined with AZA. A 67-year-old man with a history of gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma was admitted to the hospital with fatigue and emaciation. He was diagnosed with aCML and no longer responded to decitabine treatment after undergoing seven cycles. The patient was subsequently administered hydroxyurea (HU), selinexor, and AZA. After four courses of combination therapy, his blood cell counts improved; he no longer required transfusions and was able to discontinue HU. The patient continued receiving selinexor and AZA without severe complications. This case is the first to show that combinatorial selinexor and AZA therapy can effectively treat aCML.

Conclusion

Our case sheds light on the importance of selinexor and AZA combined therapy in the exploration of new treatment strategies for aCML. Moreover, this treatment approach offers the possibility of bridging with allo-HSCT.