Discovery of AG-270, a First-in-Class Oral MAT2A Inhibitor for the Treatment of Tumors with Homozygous <i>MTAP</i> Deletion

Abstract

The metabolic enzyme methionine adenosyltransferase 2A (MAT2A) was recently implicated as a synthetic lethal target in cancers with deletion of the methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (<i>MTAP</i>) gene, which is adjacent to the <i>CDKN2A</i> tumor suppressor and codeleted with <i>CDKN2A</i> in approximately 15% of all cancers. Previous attempts to target MAT2A with small-molecule inhibitors identified cellular adaptations that blunted their efficacy. Here, we report the discovery of highly potent, selective, orally bioavailable MAT2A inhibitors that overcome these challenges. Fragment screening followed by iterative structure-guided design enabled >10 000-fold improvement in potency of a family of allosteric MAT2A inhibitors that are substrate noncompetitive and inhibit release of the product, <i>S</i>-adenosyl methionine (SAM), from the enzyme's active site. We demonstrate that potent MAT2A inhibitors substantially reduce SAM levels in cancer cells and selectively block proliferation of <i>MTAP</i>-null cells both in tissue culture and xenograft tumors. These data supported progressing <b>AG-270</b> into current clinical studies (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03435250).