Abstract:

Mitogen-activated protein kinase p38 is a serine/threonine kinase originally isolated from lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated monocytes. There are four isoforms p38, p38, p38, and p38. The most thoroughly studied isoform is p38, whose activation has been observed in many hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cell types upon appropriate stimuli. Subsequently, p38 kinase has been shown to be involved in the biosynthesis of TNF and IL-1 at the translational and transcriptional level. MAP kinase p38agr; represents a point of convergence for multiple signaling processes that are activated in inflammation and thus a key potential target for the modulation of cytokine production. The discovery and publication of p38 and the pyridinyl-imidazole inhibitor initiated a huge effort by many companies to develop p38 inhibitors as potential treatment for inflammatory diseases. Herein we provide a brief overview of recent reported clinical results for AMG 548, BIRB 796, VX 702, SCIO 469, and SCIO 323. However, our focus will be on the binding modes of these inhibitors and other p38 inhibitors in the recent literature.

Keywords: p38 inhibitors; map kinase; tnf; il-1; dgf in; dgf out; amg 548; birb 796; scio 469

Document Type: Review article

DOI: 10.2174/092986705774462914

Affiliations: 1: Departments of Molecular Structure and Medicinal Chemistry , Amgen Inc. One Amgen Center Drive Thousand Oaks, CA 91320-1799, USA.