Deoxyvasicinone derivatives can be considered as promising lead molecules for the development of more potent inhibitors of NEDD8-activating enzyme.

A pharmacophore model constructed from a training set of Deoxyvasicinone derivatives was used to screen 376 compounds from an analogue database. From the initial screening, the valine-linked Deoxyvasicinone derivative 9 and the N-isopropyl-linked Deoxyvasicinone derivative 10 emerged as the top scoring candidates. Compounds 9 and 10 showed micromolar potencies in both cell-free and cell-based systems, with selectivity for NAE over the related enzymes SAE and UAE. Molecular modelling analysis suggested that 9 and 10 may inhibit NAE by blocking the ATP-binding domain.