Over the past decade, covalent kinase inhibitors (CKI) have seen a resurgence in drug discovery. Covalency affords a unique set of advantages as well as challenges relative to their non-covalent counterpart. After reversible protein target recognition and binding, covalent inhibitors irreversibly modify a proximal nucleophilic residue on the protein via reaction with an electrophile. To date, the acrylamide group remains the predominantly employed electrophile in CKI development, with its incorporation in the majority of clinical candidates and FDA approved covalent therapies. Nonetheless, in recent years considerable efforts have ensued to characterize alternative electrophiles that exhibit irreversible or reversibly covalent binding mechanisms towards cysteine thiols and other amino acids. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of CKIs reported in the literature over a decade period, 2007–2018. Emphasis is placed on the rationale behind warhead choice, optimization approach, and inhibitor design. Current FDA approved CKIs are also highlighted, in addition to a detailed analysis of the common trends and themes observed within the listed data set.

Through a comprehensive review and in silico analysis of reported data on STAT‐linked diseases, we analysed the communication pathways and interactome of the seven STATs in major cancer categories and proposed rational targeting approaches for therapeutic intervention to disrupt critical pathways and addictions to hyperactive JAK/STAT in neoplastic states. Although all STATs follow a similar molecular activation pathway, STAT1, STAT2, STAT4 and STAT6 exert specific biological profiles associated with a more restricted pattern of activation by cytokines. STAT3 and STAT5A as well as STAT5B have pleiotropic roles in the body and can act as critical oncogenes that promote many processes involved in cancer development. STAT1, STAT3 and STAT5 also possess tumour suppressive action in certain mutational and cancer type context. Here, we demonstrated member‐specific STAT activity in major cancer types. Through systems biology approaches, we found surprising roles for EGFR family members, sex steroid hormone receptor ESR1 interplay with oncogenic STAT function and proposed new drug targeting approaches of oncogenic STAT pathway addiction.

Src homology 2 (SH2) domains are 100 amino acid modular units, which recognize and bind to tyrosyl-phosphorylated peptide sequences on their target proteins, and thereby mediate intracellular protein–protein interactions. This review summarizes the progress towards the development of synthetic agents that disrupt the function of the SH2 domains in different proteins as well as the clinical relevance of targeting a specific SH2 domain. Since 1986, SH2 domains have been identified in over 110 human proteins, including kinases, transcription factors, and adaptor proteins. A number of these proteins are over-activated in many diseases, including cancer, and their function is highly dependent on their SH2 domain. Thus, inhibition of a protein's function through disrupting that of its SH2 domain has emerged as a promising approach towards the development of novel therapeutic modalities. Although targeting the SH2 domain is a challenging task in molecular recognition, the progress reported here demonstrates the feasibility of such an approach.