ARN-509: a novel antiandrogen for prostate cancer treatment.

Continued reliance on the androgen receptor (AR) is now understood as a core mechanism in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), the most advanced form of this disease. While established and novel AR pathway-targeting agents display clinical efficacy in metastatic CRPC, dose-limiting side effects remain problematic for all current agents. In this study, we report the discovery and development of ARN-509, a competitive AR inhibitor that is fully antagonistic to AR overexpression, a common and important feature of CRPC. ARN-509 was optimized for inhibition of AR transcriptional activity and prostate cancer cell proliferation, pharmacokinetics, and in vivo efficacy. In contrast to bicalutamide, ARN-509 lacked significant agonist activity in preclinical models of CRPC. Moreover, ARN-509 lacked inducing activity for AR nuclear localization or DNA binding. In a clinically valid murine xenograft model of human CRPC, ARN-509 showed greater efficacy than MDV3100. Maximal therapeutic response in this model was achieved at 30 mg/kg/d of ARN-509, whereas the same response required 100 mg/kg/d of MDV3100 and higher steady-state plasma concentrations. Thus, ARN-509 exhibits characteristics predicting a higher therapeutic index with a greater potential to reach maximally efficacious doses in man than current AR antagonists. Our findings offer preclinical proof of principle for ARN-509 as a promising therapeutic in both castration-sensitive and castration-resistant forms of prostate cancer.

Pharmacological characterization of KLYP961, a dual inhibitor of inducible and neuronal nitric-oxide synthases.

Nitric oxide (NO) derived from neuronal nitric-oxide synthase (nNOS) and inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS) plays a key role in various pain and inflammatory states. KLYP961 (4-((2-cyclobutyl-1H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyrazin-1-yl)methyl)-7,8-difluoroquinolin-2(1H)-one) inhibits the dimerization, and hence the enzymatic activity of human, primate, and murine iNOS and nNOS (IC(50) values 50-400 nM), with marked selectivity against endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (IC(50) >15,000 nM). It has ideal drug like-properties, including excellent rodent and primate pharmacokinetics coupled with a minimal off-target activity profile. In mice, KLYP961 attenuated endotoxin-evoked increases in plasma nitrates, a surrogate marker of iNOS activity in vivo, in a sustained manner (ED(50) 1 mg/kg p.o.). KLYP961 attenuated pain behaviors in a mouse formalin model (ED(50) 13 mg/kg p.o.), cold allodynia in the chronic constriction injury model (ED(50) 25 mg/kg p.o.), or tactile allodynia in the spinal nerve ligation model (ED(50) 30 mg/kg p.o.) with similar efficacy, but superior potency relative to gabapentin, pregabalin, or duloxetine. Unlike morphine, the antiallodynic activity of KLYP961 did not diminish upon repeated dosing. KLYP961 also attenuated carrageenin-induced edema and inflammatory hyperalgesia and writhing response elicited by phenylbenzoquinone with efficacy and potency similar to those of celecoxib. In contrast to gabapentin, KLYP961 did not impair motor coordination at doses as high as 1000 mg/kg p.o. KLYP961 also attenuated capsaicin-induced thermal allodynia in rhesus primates in a dose-related manner with a minimal effective dose (≤ 10 mg/kg p.o.) and a greater potency than gabapentin. In summary, KLYP961 represents an ideal tool with which to probe the physiological role of NO derived from iNOS and nNOS in human pain and inflammatory states.