Discovery of 1-[4-(N-benzylamino)phenyl]-3-phenylurea derivatives as non-peptidic selective SUMO-sentrin specific protease (SENP)1 inhibitors

We developed 1-[4-(N-benzylamino)phenyl]-3-phenylurea derivative 4 (GN6958) as a non-peptidic selective SUMO-sentrin specific protease (SENP)1 protease inhibitor based on the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α inhibitor 1 (GN6767). The direct interaction of compound 1 with SENP1 protein in cells was observed by the pull-down experiments using the biotin-tagged compound 2 coated on the streptavidin affinity column. Among the various 1-[4-(N-benzylamino)phenyl]-3-phenylurea derivatives tested, compounds 3 and 4 suppressed HIF-1α accumulation in a concentration-dependent manner without affecting the expression level of tubulin protein in HeLa cells. Both compounds inhibited SENP1 protease activity in a concentration-dependent manner, and compound 4 exhibited more potent inhibition than compound 3. Compound 4 exhibited selective inhibition against SENP1 protease activity without inhibiting other protease enzyme activities in vitro.