Lipid and sulfur substituted prenylcysteine analogs as human Icmt inhibitors

Inhibition of isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferase (Icmt) offers a promising strategy for K-Ras driven cancers. We describe the synthesis and inhibitory activity of substrate-based analogs derived from several novel scaffolds. Modifications of both the prenyl group and thioether of N-acetyl-S-farnesyl-L-cysteine (AFC), a substrate for human Icmt (hIcmt), have resulted in low micromolar inhibitors of Icmt and have given insights into the nature of the prenyl binding site of hIcmt.