A triazolotriazine-based dual GSK-3β/CK-1δ ligand as a potential neuroprotective agent presenting two different mechanisms of enzymatic inhibition

: Glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β) and casein kinase 1δ (CK-1δ) are emerging targets for the treatment of neuroinflammatory disorders, including Parkinson's disease. An inhibitor able to target these two kinases was developed by docking-based design. Compound 12, 3-(7-amino-5-(cyclohexylamino)-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a][1,3,5]triazin-2-yl)-2-cyanoacrylamide, showed combined inhibitory activity against GSK-3β and CK-1δ [IC50 (GSK-3β)=0.17 μm; IC50 (CK-1δ)=0.68 μm]. In particular, classical ATP competition was observed against CK-1δ, and a co-crystal of compound 12 inside GSK-3β confirmed a covalent interaction between the cyanoacrylamide warhead and Cys199, which could help in the development of more potent covalent inhibitors of GSK-3β. Preliminary studies on in vitro models of Parkinson's disease revealed that compound 12 is not cytotoxic and shows neuroprotective activity. These results encourage further investigations to validate GSK-3β/CK-1δ inhibition as a possible new strategy to treat neuroinflammatory/degenerative diseases.