Accelerated Discovery of Carbamate Cbl-b Inhibitors Using Generative AI Models and Structure-Based Drug Design

J Med Chem. 2024 Aug 22;67(16):14210-14233. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c01034. Epub 2024 Aug 12.

Abstract

Casitas B-lymphoma proto-oncogene-b (Cbl-b) is a RING finger E3 ligase that has an important role in effector T cell function, acting as a negative regulator of T cell, natural killer (NK) cell, and B cell activation. A discovery effort toward Cbl-b inhibitors was pursued in which a generative AI design engine, REINVENT, was combined with a medicinal chemistry structure-based design to discover novel inhibitors of Cbl-b. Key to the success of this effort was the evolution of the "Design" phase of the Design-Make-Test-Analyze cycle to involve iterative rounds of an in silico structure-based drug design, strongly guided by physics-based affinity prediction and machine learning DMPK predictive models, prior to selection for synthesis. This led to the accelerated discovery of a potent series of carbamate Cbl-b inhibitors.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Carbamates* / chemical synthesis
  • Carbamates* / chemistry
  • Carbamates* / pharmacology
  • Drug Design*
  • Drug Discovery
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Proto-Oncogene Mas*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-cbl* / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-cbl* / metabolism
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-cbl
  • Proto-Oncogene Mas
  • Carbamates
  • MAS1 protein, human
  • CBLB protein, human
  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing