A series of tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their potential as novel orally efficacious retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor-gamma t (RORγt) inverse agonists for the treatment of Th17-driven autoimmune diseases. We carried out cyclization of the phenylglycinamide core by structure-based drug design and successfully identified a tetrahydroisoquinoline carboxylic acid derivative 14 with good biochemical binding and cellular reporter activity. Interestingly, the combination of a carboxylic acid tether and a central fused bicyclic ring was crucial for optimizing PK properties, and the compound 14 showed significantly improved PK profile. Successive optimization of the carboxylate tether led to the discovery of compound 15 with increased inverse agonistic activity and an excellent PK profile. Oral treatment of mice with compound 15 robustly and dose-dependently inhibited IL-17A production in an IL23-induced gene expression assay.

设计，合成和评估了一系列四氢异喹啉衍生物作为新型口服有效的视黄酸受体相关的孤儿受体-γt（RORγt）反向激动剂的潜力，用于治疗Th17驱动的自身免疫性疾病。我们通过基于结构的药物设计对苯基甘氨酰胺核心进行环化，并成功鉴定出具有良好生化结合和细胞报道分子活性的四氢异喹啉羧酸衍生物14。有趣的是，羧酸系链和中心稠合双环的结合对于优化PK性能至关重要，化合物14显示出明显改善的PK分布。羧酸酯系链的连续优化导致发现化合物15具有增强的反向激动活性和出色的PK分布。在IL23诱导的基因表达分析中，用化合物15口服治疗小鼠有力且剂量依赖性地抑制了IL-17A的产生。