Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples "Federico II", Via D. Montesano 49, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, "Sapienza" University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
J Med Chem. 2021 Aug 26;64(16):11774-11797. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c00226. Epub 2021 Aug 5.
Epigenetics is nowadays a well-accepted area of research. In the last years, tremendous progress was made regarding molecules targeting EZH2, directly or indirectly. Recently tazemetostat hit the market after FDA-approval for the treatment of lymphoma. However, the impairment of EZH2 activity by orthosteric intervention has proven to be effective only in a limited subset of cancers. Considering the multiproteic nature of the PRC2 complex and the marked dependence of EZH2 functions on the other core subunits such as EED, in recent years, a new targeting approach ascended to prominence. The possibility to cripple the function of the PRC2 complex by interfering with its multimeric integrity fueled the interest in developing EZH2-EED protein-protein interaction and EED inhibitors as indirect modulators of PRC2-dependent methyltransferase activity. In this Perspective, we aim to summarize the latest findings regarding the development and the biological activity of these emerging classes of PRC2 modulators from a medicinal chemist's viewpoint.
表观遗传学是目前被广泛认可的研究领域。在过去的几年中,针对 EZH2 的分子靶向治疗取得了巨大的进展,这些靶向治疗直接或间接地针对 EZH2。最近,tazemetostat 在获得 FDA 批准用于治疗淋巴瘤后上市。然而,通过正构干预来抑制 EZH2 的活性已被证明仅在有限的癌症亚群中有效。鉴于 PRC2 复合物的多蛋白性质以及 EZH2 功能对其他核心亚基(如 EED)的明显依赖性,近年来,一种新的靶向方法引起了人们的关注。通过干扰其多聚体完整性来削弱 PRC2 复合物功能的可能性,激发了开发 EZH2-EED 蛋白-蛋白相互作用和 EED 抑制剂作为 PRC2 依赖性甲基转移酶活性间接调节剂的兴趣。在本观点中,我们旨在从药物化学家的角度总结这些新兴 PRC2 调节剂类别的最新发现及其生物学活性。