In vitro activity: CCT137690 displays antiproliferative activity in a range of human tumor cell lines, including SW620 colon carcinoma cell and A2780 ovarian cancer cell with GI50 of 0.3 and o.14 μM, respectively. In addition, CCT137690 also inhibit the phosphorylation of histone H3. CCT137690 inhibits the major cytochrome P450 isoforms (CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP3A4) with IC50 greater than 10 μM. However, CCT137690 is a moderate inhibitor of the hERG ion-channel with IC50 of 3.0 μM. CCT137690 effectively inhibits the growth of human tumor cell lines of different origins with GI50 ranging from 0.005 to 0.47 μM. CCT137690 completely inhibits both Aurora A autophosphorylation at T288 and histone H3 phosphorylation at 0.5 μM. CCT137690 induces polyploidy, mitotic aberrations, and apoptosis in HCT116 cells. CCT137690 reduces MYCN levels and GSK3β phosphorylation in the KELLY neuroblastoma cell line. CCT137690 inhibits autophosphorylation of FLT3 and phosphorylation of its downstream targets STAT5 and p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2).

Kinase Assay: Flashplate assay for identification and evaluation of Aurora inhibitors; On this assay 384-well Basic Flashplate(R) as solid assay platform is used. The plates are coated overnight at 4 °C with dithiothreitol (DTT) at 100 μg/mL in PBS buffer and used after being washed twice with PBS. 5 μL of CCT137690 in 2% DMSO is added to each well followed by 15 μL master mix of kinase buffer (50 mM Tris pH 7.5, 10 mM NaCl, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM myelin basic protein (MBP), 20 μM ATP, and 0.025 μCi/μL 33P-ATP). Finally, 250 ng per well of Aurora-A enzyme is added. The plate is shaken for approximately 2 min on a flat-bed plate shaker and incubated for 2 hours at room temperature. The reaction is stopped by washing the plate twice on a 16-pin wash with 10 mM sodium pyrophosphate. The plate is then read on a TopCount-NXTTM. For the determination of the inhibitory activity against Aurora-B or Aurora-C, the same conditions are followed in the assay using Aurora-B or Aurora-C enzymes.

Cell Assay: The effects of CCT137690 on cell proliferation are analyzed with the colorimetric 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Cells such as SW620 and A2780 are plated in 96-well plates at 2.5 × 103 per well and are treated with a range of 0 to 50 μM of CCT137690 for 72 hours. The absorbance is measured at 570 nm using the Wallac VICTOR2TM 1420 Multilabel Counter.

J Med Chem. 2010 Jul 22;53(14):5213-28; Mol Cancer Ther. 2011 Nov;10(11):2115-23.