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Small Molecule Inhibitor Design For Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase Inhibition, Theodore D. Hansel, David J. Grabovsky

Interface Compendium of Student Work

The Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) gene has been linked to tumorigenesis in a number of human cancers, including anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and neuroblastoma. While ALK mutations in ALCL and many other cancers occur as a result of gene fusions with wild type kinase domains, those in neuroblastoma stem from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the kinase domain. These lead to autophosphorylation and constitutive signaling by ALK for cell growth and division, ultimately causing cancer. Crizotinib, an ATP-competitive ALK inhibitor, has proven to be an effective inhibitor of both ALKWT and ALKMutant kinase domains, and is in the middle …