ML239

Description: ML239 was originally identified as a potent and selective inhibitor of breast cancer stem cells with an IC50 of 1.16 uM, but recent studies (2016 Nature 12(2):109-16.) suggested that it most likely acts through activation of fatty acid desaturase 2 (FADS2). ML239 was discovered from high-throughput screen (HTS) with the National Institute of Health–Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository (NIH–MLSMR) compound collection which identified a class of acyl hydrazones to be selectively lethal to breast cancer stem cell (CSC) enriched populations. Medicinal chemistry efforts were undertaken to optimize potency and selectivity of this class of compounds. The optimized compound was declared as a probe (ML239) with the NIH Molecular Libraries Program and displayed greater than 20-fold selective inhibition of the breast CSC-like cell line (HMLE_sh_Ecad) over the isogenic control line (HMLE_sh_GFP).

References: Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2012 May 15; 22(10):3571-4; Nat Chem Biol. 2016 Feb; 12(2):109-16.