The Design, Synthesis and Potential Utility of Fluorescence Probes that Target DFG-out Conformation of p38alpha for High Throughput Screening Binding Assay.

The design, synthesis and utility of fluorescence probes that bind to the DFG-out conformation of p38{alpha} kinase are described. Probes that demonstrate good affinity for p38{alpha}, have been identified and one of the probes, PF-04438255, has been successfully used in an high throughput screening (HTS) assay to identify two novel non-classical p38{alpha} inhibitors. In addition, a cascade activity assay was utilized to validate the selective binding of these non-classical kinase inhibitors to the unactive form of the enzyme.