Discovery of W478, a novel SHMT2 inhibitor for the treatment of esophageal carcinoma

Esophageal cancer has been regarded as a serious malignancy due to its poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Serine hydroxymethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2) is emerging as an attractive target for esophageal cancer therapy. Compound W478 was identified as a potent SHMT2 inhibitor with an IC 50 value of 1.21 μM, especially whose chemical structure is distinct from the reported SHMT2 inhibitors. Both cellular thermal shift assay and isothermal titration calorimetry experiments showed that compound W478 tightly bound to SHMT2 (K D  = 10.6 ± 1.2 μM). The molecular docking analysis revealed its binding at the folate binding site of SHMT2. Moreover, compound W478 exhibited a significant antiproliferative effect on human esophageal cancer cell lines, KYSE-450 and KYSE-70 cells (IC 50  = 1.62 μM, 1.18 μM, respectively). The wound healing and transwell assays showed that compound W478 could inhibit the migratory and invasive potential of KYSE-450 and KYSE-70 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Further studies demonstrated that compound W478 could induce cell arrest at the G2/M phase and promote cell apoptosis and ROS production in KYSE-450 and KYSE-70 cells. These findings indicated that compound W478 could serve as a promising lead compound for the development of SHMT2 inhibitor to address esophageal carcinoma.