Dorsomorphin

Potent, selective and ATP-competitive inhibitor of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) (Ki = 109 nM) [1]. It displays no significant inhibition of ZAPK, SYK, PKCT, PKA and JAK3. It inhibits bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type I receptors (ALK2, ALK3 and ALK6) [2]. Dorsomorphin has been shown to promote cardiomyogenesis in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in vitro [3]. Induces autophagy in cancer cell lines via a mechanism independent of AMPK inhibition [4].

References:

1) Zhou et al.(2001) Role of AMP-activated protein kinase in mechanism of metformin action; J. Clin. Invest. 108 1167

2) Yu et al. (2008) Dorsomorphin inhibits BMP signals required for embryogenesis and iron metabolism. Nat. Chem. Biol. 4 33

3) Hao et al. (2008) Dorsomorphin, a selective small molecule inhibitor of BMP signaling, promotes cardiomyogenesis in embryonic stem cells. PLoS ONE 3 2904

4) Vucicevic et al. (2011) Compound C induces protective autophagy in cancer cells through AMPK inhibition-independent blockade of Akt/mTOR pathway. Autophagy 7 40