Discovery of dual Axl/VEGF-R2 inhibitors as potential anti-angiogenic and anti-metastatic drugs for cancer chemotherapy.

Axl tyrosine kinase has been shown to be involved in multiple pathways contributing to tumor development, angiogenesis, and metastasis. High Axl expression has been observed in many human tumors where it appears to confer aggressive tumor behavior. Here we present several series of dual Axl-VEGF-R2 kinase inhibitors based on extensive optimization of an acyl diaminotriazole. It was hypothesized that dual inhibition of these two receptor tyrosine kinases may have a synergistic affect in inhibiting tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. One of these molecules, R916562 showed comparable activity to Sunitinib in two mouse tumor xenograft models and a mouse corneal micropocket model.