Discovery of Novel and Potent Stearoyl Coenzyme A Desaturase 1 (SCD1) Inhibitors as Anticancer Agents

Abstract

A lead compound A was identified previously as an stearoyl coenzyme A desaturase (SCD) inhibitor during research on potential treatments for obesity. This compound showed high SCD1 binding affinity, but a poor pharmacokinetic (PK) profile and limited chemical accessibility, making it suboptimal for use in anticancer research. To identify potent SCD1 inhibitors with more promising PK profiles, we newly designed a series of ‘non-spiro’ 4, 4-disubstituted piperidine derivatives based on molecular modeling studies. As a result, we discovered compound 1a, which retained moderate SCD1 binding affinity. Optimization around 1a was accelerated by analyzing Hansch–Fujita and Hammett constants to obtain 4-phenyl-4-(trifluoromethyl)piperidine derivative 1n. Fine-tuning of the azole moiety of 1n led to compound 1o (T-3764518), which retained nanomolar affinity and exhibited an excellent PK profile. Reflecting the good potency and PK profile, orally administrated compound 1o showed significant pharmacodynamic (PD) marker reduction (at 0.3mg/kg, bid) in HCT116 mouse xenograft model and tumor growth suppression (at 1mg/kg, bid) in 786-O mouse xenograft model.In conclusion, we identified a new series of SCD1 inhibitors, represented by compound 1o, which represents a promising new chemical tool suitable for the study of SCD1 biology as well as the potential development of novel anticancer therapies.