Discovery of Novel Small-Molecule Inhibitors of PD-1/PD-L1 Interaction via Structural Simplification Strategy

Autor: Hongbo Zhang, Yu Xia, Chunqiu Yu, Huijie Du, Jinchang Liu, Hui Li, Shihui Huang, Qihua Zhu, Yungen Xu, Yi Zou
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Molecules, Vol 26, Iss 11, p 3347 (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1420-3049
DOI: 10.3390/molecules26113347
Popis: Blockade of the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) interaction is currently the focus in the field of cancer immunotherapy, and so far, several monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have achieved encouraging outcomes in cancer treatment. Despite this achievement, mAbs-based therapies are struggling with limitations including poor tissue and tumor penetration, long half-life time, poor oral bioavailability, and expensive production costs, which prompted a shift towards the development of the small-molecule inhibitors of PD-1/PD-L1 pathways. Even though many small-molecule inhibitors targeting PD-1/PD-L1 interaction have been reported, their development lags behind the corresponding mAb, partly due to the challenges of developing drug-like small molecules. Herein, we report the discovery of a series of novel inhibitors targeting PD-1/PD-L1 interaction via structural simplification strategy by using BMS-1058 as a starting point. Among them, compound A9 stands out as the most promising candidate with excellent PD-L1 inhibitory activity (IC50 = 0.93 nM, LE = 0.43) and high binding affinity to hPD-L1 (KD = 3.64 nM, LE = 0.40). Furthermore, A9 can significantly promote the production of IFN-γ in a dose-dependent manner by rescuing PD-L1 mediated T-cell inhibition in Hep3B/OS-8/hPD-L1 and CD3-positive T cells co-culture assay. Taken together, these results suggest that A9 is a promising inhibitor of PD-1/PD-L1 interaction and is worthy for further study.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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