Evaluation of potential Myt1 kinase inhibitors by TR-FRET based binding assay

In the human cell cycle, the Myt1 kinase is a crucial regulator of the G2/M transition. Because this membrane-associated kinase is hard to obtain and assay, there is a distinct lack of data so far. Here we report the derivatization of a glycoglycerolipid which was shown previously to be active in a Myt1 activity assay. These compounds were tested in a binding assay together with a set of common kinase inhibitors against a full-length Myt1 expressed in a human cell line. Dasatinib exhibited nanomolar affinity whereas broad coverage inhibitors such as sunitinib and staurosporine derivatives did not show any effect. We also carried out docking studies for the most potent compounds allowing further insights into the inhibitor interaction of this kinase. The glycoglycerolipids showed no significant effects in the binding assay, endorsing the idea of a mechanism of action distant from the active site.

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► Full-length human Myt1 kinase was used in a binding assay.
► Glycoglycerolipids were synthesized and tested but did not displace the tracer.
►  A set of common kinase inhibitors was tested.
► PD0166285 and dasatinib had nanomolar affinities.
► Binding modes for these compounds were predicted.