Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have developed a promising non-hormonal male contraceptive by targeting a protein, STK33, crucial for sperm functionality. Their study revealed that the new compound, CDD-2807, effectively reduces sperm mobility and numbers in mice without significant side effects, and the contraceptive effect is reversible.
“Although researchers have been investigating several strategies to develop male contraceptives, we still do not have a birth control pill for men,” said corresponding author Dr. Martin Matzuk, director of the Center for Drug Discovery and chair of the Department of Pathology and Immunology at Baylor.
The researchers uncovered potent STK33-specific inhibitors, from which they successfully generated modified versions to make them more stable, potent, and selective. “Among these modified versions, compound CDD-2807 turned out to be the most effective,” Ku said. “In our paper, we also present the first crystal structure for STK33,” said co-author Dr. Choel Kim, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology and member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor. “Our crystal structure showed how one of our potent inhibitors interacts with STK33 kinase in three dimensions. This enabled us to model and design our final compound, CDD-2807, for better drug-like properties.