Discovery of a novel covalent CDK4/6 inhibitor based on palbociclib scaffold

Cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6), which are involved in dynamic regulation of cell cycle, play an indispensable role in controlling the tumor growth. Here, based on the scaffold of palbociclib, we designed and synthesized a series of covalent CDK4/6 inhibitors that targeted amino acid Thr107. The optimized compound C-13 exhibited potent in vitro anticancer activity against CDK4/6 with high selectivity over CDK4/6. Moreover, C-13 showed significant tumor growth inhibition in MDA-MB-231 tumor xenograft model (TGI of 93.49% at dose of 40 mg/kg) without causing significant weight loss and toxicity during the treatment period.