Discovery of 3,4,6-Trisubstituted Piperidine Derivatives as Orally Active, Low hERG Blocking Akt Inhibitors via Conformational Restriction and Structure-Based Design

A series of 3,4-disubstituted piperidine derivatives were obtained based on a conformational restriction strategy and a lead compound, A12, that exhibited potent in vitro and in vivo antitumor efficacies; however, obvious safety issues limited its further development. Thus, systematic exploration of the structure–activity relationship of compound A12, involving the phenyl group, hinge-linkage, and piperidine moiety, led to the discovery of the superior 3,4,6-trisubstituted piperidine derivative E22. E22 showed increased potency in Akt1 and cancer cell inhibition, remarkably reduced human ether-a-go-go-related gene blockage, and significantly improved safety profiles. Compound E22 also exhibited good kinase selectivity, had a good pharmacokinetic profile, and displayed very potent in vivo antitumor efficacy, with over 90% tumor growth inhibition in the SKOV3 xenograft model. Further mechanistic studies were conducted to demonstrate that compound E22 could significantly inhibit the phosphorylation of proteins downstream of Akt kinase in cells and tumor tissue from the xenograft model.