Atsunori Kaneshige, Longchuan Bai, Mi Wang, Donna McEachern, Jennifer L. Meagher, Renqi Xu, Yu Wang, Wei Jiang, Hoda Metwally, Paul D. Kirchhoff, Lijie Zhao, Hui Jiang, Meilin Wang, Bo Wen, Duxin Sun, Jeanne A. Stuckey & Shaomeng Wang

Nature Chemical Biology 2023
Publication date: February 2, 2023

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-022-01248-4

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) is an attractive therapeutic target, but successful targeting of STAT5 has proved to be difficult. Here we report the development of AK-2292 as a first, potent and selective small-molecule degrader of both STAT5A and STAT5B isoforms. AK-2292 induces degradation of STAT5A/B proteins with an outstanding selectivity over all other STAT proteins and more than 6,000 non-STAT proteins, leading to selective inhibition of STAT5 activity in cells. AK-2292 effectively induces STAT5 depletion in normal mouse tissues and human chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) xenograft tissues and achieves tumor regression in two CML xenograft mouse models at well-tolerated dose schedules. AK-2292 is not only a powerful research tool with which to investigate the biology of STAT5 and the therapeutic potential of selective STAT5 protein depletion and inhibition but also a promising lead compound toward ultimate development of a STAT5-targeted therapy.

Read the full article in Nature Chemical Biology.