Research and Development, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, 900 Ridgebury Road, Ridgefield, CT 06877, USA. jwu@rdg.boehringer-ingelheim.com
The discovery of a series of potent, carboline-based MK2 inhibitors is described. These compounds inhibit MK2 with IC50s as low as 10 nM, as measured in a DELFIA assay. An X-ray crystal structure reveals that they bind in a region near the p-loop and the hinge region of MK2a.