Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancers in men worldwide, and hormonal therapy plays a key role in the treatment of PCa. However, the drug resistance of hormonal therapy makes it urgent and necessary to identify novel targets for PCa treatment. Herein, dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) is found and confirmed to be highly expressed in the PCa tissues and cells, and knock-down of DYRK2 remarkably reduces PCa burden in vitro and in vivo. On the base of DYRK2 acting as a promising target, we further discover a highly selective DYRK2 inhibitor YK-2-69, which specifically interacts with Lys-231 and Lys-234 in the co-crystal structure. Especially, YK-2-69 exhibits more potent anti-PCa efficacy than the first-line drug enzalutamide in vivo. Meanwhile, YK-2-69 displays favorable safety properties with a maximal tolerable dose of more than 10,000 mg/kg and pharmacokinetic profiles with 56% bioavailability. In summary, we identify DYRK2 as a potential drug target and verify its critical roles in PCa. Meanwhile, we discover a highly selective DYRK2 inhibitor with favorable druggability for the treatment of PCa.

Osimertinib resistance is an unmet clinical need for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the main mechanism is tertiary C797S mutation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). To date, there is no inhibitor approved for the treatment of Osimertinib-resistant NSCLC. Herein, we reported a series of Osimertinib derivatives as fourth-generation inhibitors which were rationally designed. Top candidate D51 potently inhibited the EGFRL858R/T790M/C797S mutant with an IC50 value of 14 nM and suppressed the proliferation of H1975-TM cells with an IC50 value of 14 nM, which show over 500-fold selectivity against wild-type forms. Moreover, D51 inhibited the EGFRdel19/T790M/C797S mutant and the proliferation of the PC9-TM cell line with IC50 values of 62 and 82 nM. D51 also exhibited favorable in vivo druggability, including PK parameters, safety properties, in vivo stability, and antitumor activity.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancers in men worldwide, and hormonal therapy plays a key role in the treatment of PCa. However, the inevitable drug resistance of hormonal therapy makes it urgent and necessary to identify novel targets for PCa treatment. Herein, dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) was found and confirmed to be highly expressed in the PCa tissues and cells, and knock-down of DYRK2 remarkably reduces PCa burden in vitro and in vivo. On the base of DYRK2 acting as a promising target, we further discovered a highly selective DYRK2 inhibitor YK-2-69 and solved its co-crystal structure. Especially, YK-2-69 displayed great selectivity over 370 kinases and exhibited more potent anti-PCa efficacy than the first-line drug enzalutamide in vivo. Meanwhile, YK-2-69 displayed excellent safety properties with maximal tolerable dose of more than 10,000 mg/kg and great pharmacokinetic profiles with 55.78% bioavailability. In summary, we identified DYRK2 as a novel drug target and verified its critical roles in PCa. Meanwhile, we discovered a highly selective DYRK2 inhibitor with favorable druggability for the treatment of PCa.

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