1. Academic Validation
  2. Discovery of imidazo[1,5-a]pyridines and -pyrimidines as potent and selective RORc inverse agonists

Discovery of imidazo[1,5-a]pyridines and -pyrimidines as potent and selective RORc inverse agonists

  • Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2015 Aug 1;25(15):2907-12. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2015.05.055.
Benjamin P Fauber 1 Alberto Gobbi 2 Kirk Robarge 2 Aihe Zhou 2 Adrian Barnard 3 Jianhua Cao 4 Yuzhong Deng 2 Céline Eidenschenk 2 Christine Everett 2 Arunima Ganguli 3 Julie Hawkins 3 Adam R Johnson 2 Hank La 2 Maxine Norman 3 Gary Salmon 3 Susan Summerhill 3 Wenjun Ouyang 2 Wei Tang 4 Harvey Wong 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Genentech, Inc., 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA. Electronic address: Fauber.Benjamin@gene.com.
  • 2 Genentech, Inc., 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA.
  • 3 Argenta, Units 7-9 Spire Green Centre, Flex Meadow, Harlow, Essex CM19 5TR, UK.
  • 4 ChemPartner, No. 5 Building, 998 Halei Road, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Pudong New Area, Shanghai 201203, China.
Abstract

The nuclear receptor (NR) retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor gamma (RORγ, RORc, or NR1F3) is a promising target for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. RORc is a critical regulator in the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-17. We discovered a series of potent and selective imidazo[1,5-a]pyridine and -pyrimidine RORc inverse agonists. The most potent compounds displayed >300-fold selectivity for RORc over the other ROR family members, PPARγ, and NRs in our cellular selectivity panel. The favorable potency, selectivity, and physiochemical properties of GNE-0946 (9) and GNE-6468 (28), in addition to their potent suppression of IL-17 production in human primary cells, support their use as chemical biology tools to further explore the role of RORc in human biology.

Keywords

GNE-0946; GNE-6468; IL-17; PPARγ; RORc; RORγ.

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