Q1 · MEDICINE
Article
Author: Holloway, Deborah A. ; Nadler, Steven G. ; Salter-Cid, Luisa ; Weinstein, David S. ; Burke, Christine ; Gao, Ling ; Somerville, John E. ; Guarino, Victor ; Carman, Julie ; Dodd, John H. ; Doweyko, Arthur M. ; Habte, Sium ; Shuster, David ; Wang, Jin Hong ; Cunningham, Mark ; Gong, Hua ; Barrish, Joel C.
Structurally novel 5H-chromeno[2,3-b]pyridine (azaxanthene) selective glucocorticoid receptor (GR) modulators have been identified. A screening paradigm utilizing cellular assays of GR-mediated transrepression of proinflammatory transcription factors and transactivation of GR-dependent genes combined with three physiologically relevant assays of cytokine induction in human whole blood has allowed for the identification of high affinity, selective GR ligands that display a broad range of pharmacological profiles. Agonist efficacy in reporter assays can be tuned by halogenation of a pendent phenyl ring and correlates well with efficacy for cytokine inhibition in human whole blood. A hypothetical binding mode is proposed, invoking an expanded ligand binding pocket resembling that of arylpyrazole-bound GR structures. Two compounds of close structural similarity (35 and 37; BMS-776532 and BMS-791826, respectively) have been found to maintain distinct and consistent levels of partial agonist efficacy across several assays, displaying anti-inflammatory activity comparable to that of prednisolone 2 in suppressing cytokine production in whole blood and in rodent models of acute and chronic inflammation.