Ligand-based virtual screening identifies a family of selective cannabinoid receptor 2 agonists
作者:Matteo Gianella-Borradori、Ivy Christou、Carole J.R. Bataille、Rebecca L. Cross、Graham M. Wynne、David R. Greaves、Angela J. Russell
DOI:10.1016/j.bmc.2014.11.002
日期:2015.1
The cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2R) has been linked with the regulation of inflammation, and selective receptor activation has been proposed as a target for the treatment of a range of inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis and arthritis. In order to identify selective CB2R agonists with appropriate physicochemical and ADME properties for future evaluation in vivo, we first performed a ligand-based virtual screen. Subsequent medicinal chemistry optimisation studies led to the identification of a new class of selective CB2R agonists. Several examples showed high levels of activity (EC50 < 200 nM) and binding affinity (K-i < 200 nM) for the CB2R, and no detectable activity at the CB1R. The most promising example, DIAS2, also showed favourable in vitro metabolic stability and absorption properties along with a clean selectivity profile when evaluated against a panel of GPCRs and kinases. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).