International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Crystal Structure of the Kinase Domain of MerTK in Complex with AZD7762 Provides Clues for Structure-Based Drug Development Tae Hyun Park 1,2 , Seung-Hyun Bae 1,3 , Seoung Min Bong 1, Seong Eon Ryu 2, Hyonchol Jang 1,3 and Byung Il Lee 1,3,* 1 Research Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, 10408 Gyeonggi, Korea;
[email protected] (T.H.P.);
[email protected] (S.-H.B.);
[email protected] (S.M.B.);
[email protected] (H.J.) 2 Department of Bioengineering, Hanyang University, 04763 Seoul, Korea;
[email protected] 3 Department of Cancer Biomedical Science, National Cancer Center Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy, Goyang, 10408 Gyeonggi, Korea * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +82-31-920-2223; Fax: +82-31-920-2006 Received: 29 August 2020; Accepted: 21 October 2020; Published: 23 October 2020 Abstract: Aberrant tyrosine-protein kinase Mer (MerTK) expression triggers prosurvival signaling and contributes to cell survival, invasive motility, and chemoresistance in many kinds of cancers. In addition, recent reports suggested that MerTK could be a primary target for abnormal platelet aggregation. Consequently, MerTK inhibitors may promote cancer cell death, sensitize cells to chemotherapy, and act as new antiplatelet agents. We screened an inhouse chemical library to discover novel small-molecule MerTK inhibitors, and identified AZD7762, which is known as a checkpoint-kinase (Chk) inhibitor. The inhibition of MerTK by AZD7762 was validated using an in vitro homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF) assay and through monitoring the decrease in phosphorylated MerTK in two lung cancer cell lines.