Structure-based Discovery of Phenyl (3-Phenylpyrrolidin-3-yl)sulfones as Selective, Orally Active RORγt Inverse Agonists
作者:James J.-W. Duan、Zhonghui Lu、Bin Jiang、Sylwia Stachura、Carolyn A. Weigelt、John S. Sack、Javed Khan、Max Ruzanov、Michael A. Galella、Dauh-Rurng Wu、Melissa Yarde、Ding-Ren Shen、David J. Shuster、Virna Borowski、Jenny H. Xie、Lisa Zhang、Sridhar Vanteru、Arun Kumar Gupta、Arvind Mathur、Qihong Zhao、William Foster、Luisa M. Salter-Cid、Percy H. Carter、T. G. Murali Dhar
DOI:10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00010
日期:2019.3.14
A new phenyl (3-phenylpyrrolidin-3-yl)sulfone series of ROR gamma t inverse agonists was discovered utilizing the binding conformation of previously reported bicyclic sulfonamide 1. Through a combination of structure-based design and structure-activity relationship studies, a polar set of amides at Nl-position of the pyrrolidine ring and perfluoroisopropyl group at para-position of the 3-phenyl group were identified as critical structural elements to achieve high selectivity against PXR, LXR alpha, and LXR beta. Further optimization led to the discovery of (1R,40-44(R)-34(4-fluorophenyl)sulfony1)-3-(4-(perfluoropropan-2-yOphenyl)pyrrolidine-1-carbonyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylic acid (26), which displayed excellent selectivity, desirable liability and pharmacokinetic properties in vitro, and a good pharmacokinetic profile in mouse. Oral administration of 26 demonstrated dose-dependent inhibition of IL-17 production in a mouse IL-2/IL-23-induced pharmacodynamic model and biologic-like efficacy in an IL-23-induced mouse acanthosis model.