The methylation of lysine residues on histones plays a central role in determining euchromatin structure and gene expression. The histone methyltransferases G9a and G9a-like protein (GLP) can mono- or dimethylate lysine 9 on histone 3, contributing to early embryogenesis, genomic imprinting, and lymphocyte development. UNC0642 is a selective inhibitor of G9a and GLP that competitively inhibits binding of H3K9 substrates with a Ki = 3.7 nM. It exhibits >2,000-fold selectivity over the lysine methyltransferase EZH2 and >20,000-fold selectivity over other methyltransferases. UNC0642 has been shown to reduce H3K9 dimethylation levels in MDA-MB-231 and PANC-1 cells with IC50 values of 110 and 40 nM, respectively. Furthermore, it displays improved pharmacokinetic properties relative to UNC0638 . See the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) website for more information.
