Pharmacophore Modeling of Nilotinib as an Inhibitor of ATP-Binding Cassette Drug Transporters and BCR-ABL Kinase Using a Three-Dimensional Quantitative Structure–Activity Relationship Approach

Nilotinib (Tasigna) is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved by the FDA to treat chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients. It is also a transport substrate of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) drug efflux transporters ABCB1 (P-glycoprotein, P-gp) and ABCG2 (BCRP), which may have an effect on the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of this drug. The goal of this study was to identify pharmacophoric features of nilotinib in order to potentially develop specific inhibitors of BCR-ABL kinase with minimal interactions with ABC drug transporters. Three-dimensional pharmacophore modeling and quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) studies were carried out on a series of nilotinib analogues to identify chemical features that contribute to inhibitory activity of nilotinib against BCR-ABL kinase activity, P-gp, and ABCG2. Twenty-five derivatives of nilotinib were synthesized and were then tested to measure their activity to inhibit BCR-ABL kinase and to inhibit the function of ABC drug transporters. A set of in vitro experiments including kinase activity and cell-based transport assays and photolabeling of P-gp and ABCG2 with a transport substrate, [(125)I]-iodoarylazido-prazosin (IAAP), were carried out in isolated membranes to evaluate the potency of the derivatives to inhibit the function of ABC drug transporters and BCR-ABL kinase. Sixteen, fourteen, and ten compounds were selected as QSAR data sets, respectively, to generate PHASE v3.1 pharmacophore models for BCR-ABL kinase, ABCG2, and P-gp inhibitors. The IC50 values of these derivatives against P-gp, ABCG2, or BCR-ABL kinase were used to generate pharmacophore features required for optimal interactions with these targets. A seven-point pharmacophore (AADDRRR) for BCR-ABL kinase inhibitory activity, a six-point pharmacophore (ADHRRR) for ABCG2 inhibitory activity, and a seven-point pharmacophore (AADDRRR) for P-gp inhibitory activity were generated. The derived models clearly demonstrate high predictive power for test sets of BCR-ABL, ABCG2, and P-gp inhibitors. In aggregate, these results should aid in the development of specific inhibitors of BCR-ABL kinase that exhibit no or minimal interaction with ABC drug transporters.