Discovery of the First-in-Class Agonist-Based SOS1 PROTACs Effective in Human Cancer Cells Harboring Various KRAS Mutations
Abstract
Regulating SOS1 functions may result in targeted pan-KRAS therapies. Small-molecule SOS1 inhibitors showed promising anticancer potential, and the most advanced inhibitor BI 1701963 is currently under phase I clinical studies. SOS1 agonists provide new opportunities to treat cancer; however, the underlying mechanisms still warrant investigation. We here report the discovery of the first SOS1 PROTACs designed uniquely by connecting a VHL ligand to the reported SOS1 agonist, ensuring that the observed inhibitory activity results from degraders. The best compound 9d induced SOS1 degradation in various KRAS-driven cancer cells and displayed superior antiproliferation activity compared to the agonist itself. Tumor xenograft study clearly showed the promising antitumor potency of 9d against human lung cancer. This study provides good evidence of using agonists to design SOS1 PROTACs and demonstrates that targeted SOS1 degradation represents an effective therapeutic strategy for overcoming KRAS-driven cancers.
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BI-1701963 has potential applications in the treatment of various diseases, including adenocarcinoma, advanced solid tumors, biliary tract cancer, colorectal cancer, lung tumors, metastatic colorectal cancer, and metastatic pancreatic cancer.
“BI-1701963 has potential applications in the treatment of various diseases, including adenocarcinoma, advanced solid tumors, biliary tract cancer, colorectal cancer, lung tumors, metastatic colorectal cancer, and metastatic pancreatic cancer.334”
From Recent advances in targeting the “undruggable” proteins: from drug discovery to clinical trials (2023) · cites this paper as [334]
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- Authors
- Zhou, C., Fan, Z., Zhou, Z., Li, Y., Cui, R., Liu, C., Zhou, G., Diao, X., Jiang, H., Zheng, M., Zhang, S., & Xu, T.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (CN)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zheng, Mingyue
- Zhang, Sulin
- Xu, Tianfeng
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2022-03-01
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 3923-3942
- ISSN
- 0022-2623 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-4804
- OpenAlex
- W4214695568
- Cited by
- 94
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 7
- FWCI
- 7.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (20ZR1468500)
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M693270)
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81903639)
- Lingang Laboratory (LG202102-01-02)
- Shanghai Pujiang Program (19PJ1411400)
- Shanghai Sailing Program (19YF1457800)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Degradation and Inhibitors
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Kinase Regulation and GTPase Signaling
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases
- Keywords
- KRAS mutation, KRAS-driven cancers, protein degradation, lung cancer, anti-proliferation, tumor xenografts
- MeSH terms
- Antineoplastic Agents, Humans, Lung Neoplasms, Mutation, Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras), Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
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