Optimization of 2-phenylaminoimidazo[4,5-h]isoquinolin-9-ones: orally active inhibitors of lck kinase

The tyrosine kinase p56lck (lck) is essential for T cell activation; thus, inhibitors of lck have potential utility as autoimmune agents. Our initial disclosure of a new class of lck inhibitors based on the phenylaminoimidazoisoquinolin-9-one showed reasonable cellular activity but did not work in vivo upon oral administration. Our current work highlights the further use of rational drug design and molecular modeling to produce a series of lck inhibitors that demonstrate cellular activity below 100 nM and are as efficacious as cyclosporin A in an in vivo mouse model of anti-CD3-induced IL-2 production.