Title:Recent Advances in Structural Modification Strategies for Lead
Optimization of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors to Explore Novel
Anticancer Agents
Volume: 30
Issue: 24
Author(s): Fereshteh Azimian and Siavoush Dastmalchi*
Affiliation:
- Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
- Department of Medicinal
Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
- Faculty of Pharmacy, Near East University, Nicosia, North Cyprus, Mersin 10, Turkey
Keywords:
Structural modification, hybridization, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, lead optimization, drug discovery, anticancer agents.
Abstract: Lead optimization as a bottleneck in the process of drug discovery is conducted
to tackle problems associated with poor pharmacokinetics, continuous emergence of drugresistance,
adverse side effects and drug-drug interactions of known pharmaceuticals. Due
to the intensive application of multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (MTKI) in various
pathological conditions, optimization of their structures has always been the focus of intensive
medicinal chemistry research efforts. The current review portrays the application
of scaffold hopping, bioisosterism, structure-based, and hybrid-based drug design methods
in the optimization of lead compounds aiming to enhance their usefulness as novel drugs.
Then, the review proceeds with examples of structural modifications carried out, particularly
on multi-targeted drugs already available on the market. The demonstrated examples
cover structural modifications on 7 well-known drugs during the last twenty years. The
application of the above-mentioned strategies has led to the generation of 52 new multitargeted
tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Most of the optimized compounds showed improved
properties compared to their parent lead compound. The rationales behind the applied
modifications and the achieved outcomes were discussed to present practical examples to
the researchers engaged in the area.