Inhibitors of Aurora kinases for the treatment of cancer

Abstract

Aurora protein kinases are key players in different steps during mitosis and their activity is required for correct cell division. The inhibition of Aurora kinases is regarded as a promising approach for the development of novel anticancer agents. In the last few years several templates for ATP-competitive kinase inhibition have been successfully developed towards the inhibition of Aurora kinases, and the first compounds have recently entered clinical studies. This review summarises the patent literature up until March 2005 and the characteristics of the low molecular weight Aurora inhibitors described so far.

Keywords::

• Aurora kinase
• cancer treatment
• inhibitor
• mitosis