imofinostat

An orally bioavailable N-hydroxyacrylamide-derived inhibitor of both human pan-histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes and the serine/threonine protein kinase Akt (protein kinase B), with potential antineoplastic activity. Upon administration, imofinostat selectively binds to and inhibits HDACs, which inhibits deacetylation of histone proteins and leads to the accumulation of highly acetylated histones. This may result in both an induction of chromatin remodeling, and the selective transcription of tumor suppressor genes. This prevents cell division and induces both cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, which may inhibit the proliferation of susceptible tumor cells. In addition, imofinostat inhibits the phosphorylation and activation of Akt, which prevents the activation of downstream signaling pathways, independent of its HDAC inhibitory activity. HDACs, upregulated in many tumor cell types, are a family of enzymes that deacetylate histone proteins. Akt, overexpressed in many tumor cell types, plays a key role in tumor cell proliferation and survival.