1. Discovery of ARD-69 as a highly potent proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) degrader of androgen receptor (AR) for the treatment of prostate cancer.
Han, X., Wang, C., Qin, C., Xiang, W., Fernandez-Salas, E., Yang, C.Y., Wang, M., Zhao, L., Xu, T., Chinnaswamy, K. and Delproposto, J., 2019. Journal of medicinal chemistry, 62(2), pp.941-964.
We report herein the discovery of highly potent PROTAC degraders of androgen receptor (AR), as exemplified by compound 34 (ARD-69). ARD-69 induces degradation of AR protein in AR-positive prostate cancer cell lines in a dose- and time-dependent manner. ARD-69 achieves DC50 values of 0.86, 0.76, and 10.4 nM in LNCaP, VCaP, and 22Rv1 AR+ prostate cancer cell lines, respectively. ARD-69 is capable of reducing the AR protein level by >95% in these prostate cancer cell lines and effectively suppressing AR-regulated gene expression. ARD-69 potently inhibits cell growth in these AR-positive prostate cancer cell lines and is >100 times more potent than AR antagonists. A single dose of ARD-69 effectively reduces the level of AR protein in xenograft tumor tissue in mice. Further optimization of ARD-69 may ultimately lead to a new therapy for AR+, castration-resistant prostate cancer.