The clinical efficacy of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase inhibitors in EGFR mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is limited by the development of drug resistance mutations, including the gatekeeper T790M mutation1-3. Strategies aimed at targeting EGFR T790M with irreversible inhibitors have had limited success and are associated with toxicity due to concurrent inhibition of wild type EGFR4,5. All current EGFR inhibitors possess a structurally related quinazoline based core scaffold and were identified as ATP-competitive inhibitors of wild type EGFR. Here we identify a covalent pyrimidine EGFR inhibitor by screening an irreversible kinase inhibitor library specifically against EGFR T790M. These agents are 30-100 fold more potent against EGFR T790M, and up to 100 fold less potent against wild type EGFR, than quinazoline based EGFR inhibitors in vitro and are effective in murine models of lung cancer driven by EGFR T790M. Co-crystallization studies reveal a structural basis for the increased potency and mutant selectivity of these agents. These mutant selective irreversible EGFR kinase inhibitors may be clinically more effective and better tolerated than quinazoline based inhibitors. Our findings demonstrate that functional pharmacological screens against clinically important mutant kinases represent a powerful strategy to identify new classes of mutant selective kinase inhibitors.

SUMMARY In an effort to find new pharmacological modalities to overcome resistance to ATP-site inhibitors of Bcr-Abl, we recently reported the discovery of GNF-2, a selective allosteric Bcr-Abl inhibitor. Here, using solution NMR, X-ray crystallography, mutagenesis and hydrogen exchange mass spectrometry we demonstrate that GNF-2 binds to the myristate binding site of Abl, leading to changes in the structural dynamics of the ATP-binding site. GNF-5, an analog of GNF-2 having improved pharmacokinetic properties, when utilized in combination with the ATP-competitive inhibitors imatinib or nilotinib, suppressed the emergence of resistance mutations in vitro, displayed additive inhibitory activity in biochemical and cellular assays against T315I Bcr-Abl and displayed in vivo efficacy against the recalcitrant T315I Bcr-Abl mutant in a murine bone-marrow transplantation model. These results demonstrate that therapeutically relevant inhibition of Bcr-Abl activity can be achieved using inhibitors that bind to the myristate binding site and that combining allosteric and ATP-competitive inhibitors can overcome resistance to either agent alone.

Hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) is a powerful biophysical technique being increasingly applied to a wide variety of problems. As the HDX-MS community continues to grow, adoption of best practices in data collection, analysis, presentation and interpretation will greatly enhance the accessibility of this technique to nonspecialists. Here we provide recommendations arising from community discussions emerging out of the first International Conference on Hydrogen-Exchange Mass Spectrometry (IC-HDX; 2017). It is meant to represent both a consensus viewpoint and an opportunity to stimulate further additions and refinements as the field advances.

Selective inhibition of protein methyltransferases is a promising new approach to drug discovery. An attractive strategy towards this goal is the development of compounds that selectively inhibit binding of the cofactor, S-adenosylmethionine, within specific protein methyltransferases. Here we report the three-dimensional structure of the protein methyltransferase DOT1L bound to EPZ004777, the first S-adenosylmethionine-competitive inhibitor of a protein methyltransferase with in vivo efficacy. This structure and those of four new analogues reveal remodelling of the catalytic site. EPZ004777 and a brominated analogue, SGC0946, inhibit DOT1L in vitro and selectively kill mixed lineage leukaemia cells, in which DOT1L is aberrantly localized via interaction with an oncogenic MLL fusion protein. These data provide important new insight into mechanisms of cell-active S-adenosylmethioninecompetitive protein methyltransferase inhibitors, and establish a foundation for the further development of drug-like inhibitors of DOT1L for cancer therapy.