Covalent pan-TEAD inhibitors block YAP activity and demonstrate brain penetrance in Hippo-dependent cancer models [RNA-seq]

TEAD proteins are a family of transcription factors that enable the oncogenic activity of deregulated Hippo signaling and are a promising therapeutic target in oncology. Targeting the lipid pocket of TEAD is an established path to inhibit the oncogenic activities of the cofactors YAP and TAZ. Here we present two covalent pan-TEAD inhibitors that bind to the lipid pocket, GNE-8025 and GNE-2181. GNE-8025 binds TEAD proteins covalently at a conserved cysteine residue to engage the lipid pocket and allosterically disrupt the interaction of TEAD proteins with YAP. GNE-2181 is a further optimized version of GNE-8025 with properties that enable brain penetrance in vivo. Both of these small molecules suppress the proliferation of YAP-driven tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo and increase activity of a broad range of inhibitors of the MAPK pathway. We demonstrate that these molecules have exceptional efficacy in Hippo-driven in vivo tumor models, including in a mouse model of brain metastases where GNE-2181 treatment significantly inhibits the growth of intracranial brain tumors. Altogether we present a next-generation class of TEAD inhibitors. The development of GNE-8025 and GNE-2181 is a significant advancement towards potent, specific, and effective Hippo-targeting cancer therapies.