Discovery of the First Potent DYRK2 Proteolysis Targeting Chimera Degraders

Dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) has been identified as a promising oncogenic driver of several types of cancer and is considered to be a critical cancer therapeutic target. Several inhibitors of DYRK2 have been reported, but no degraders have been found yet. In this work, we designed and synthesized the first series of proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) using curcumin and its analogs as warheads to target and degrade DYRK2. The results of degradation assays showed that the compound CP134 could effectively downregulate the intracellular DYRK2 level (DC50 = 1.607 μM). Further mechanism of action experiments revealed that CP134 induced DYRK2 degradation through the ubiquitin–proteasome system. Altogether, CP134 disclosed in this study is the first potent DYRK2 degrader, which could serve as a valuable chemical tool for further evaluation of its therapeutic potential, and our results broaden the substrate spectrum of PROTAC-based degraders for further therapeutic applications.