Carboxylic Acid Bioisosteres of Creatine as Novel and Selective Substrate Competitive Inhibitors of the Creatine Transporter SLC6A8

Creatine, a naturally occurring guanidine carboxylic acid, serves as a critical energy metabolite in tissues with high energy demands. Certain cancers upregulate creatine metabolism to supplement their energy needs. Ompenaclid, a salt form of the well-studied creatine transporter inhibitor 3-guanidinopropionic acid (β-GPA), is in clinical development for the treatment of patients with colorectal tumors. Existing SLC6A8 inhibitors are low-potency molecules and frequently interact with related transporters. Herein, we report the discovery of SLC6A8 inhibitors with increased selectivity as well as in vitro and in vivo potency. A bioisostere approach was used by replacing the carboxylic acid of β-GPA with surrogate functional groups to achieve these improvements. Docking of these inhibitors into the recently published SLC6A8 cryo-EM structure reveals key binding contacts and supports the observed structure–activity relationships.