The retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor γt (RORγt) is an important nuclear receptor that regulates the differentiation of Th17 cells and production of interleukin 17(IL-17). RORγt agonists increase basal activity of RORγt and could provide a potential approach to cancer immunotherapy. Herein, hit compound 1 was identified as a weak RORγt agonist during in-house library screening. Changes in LHS core of 1 led to the identification of tetrahydroquinoline compound 6 as a partial RORγt agonist (max. act. = 39.3%). Detailed structure-activity relationship on substituent of the LHS core, amide linker and RHS arylsulfonyl moiety was explored and a novel series of tetrahydroquinolines and benzomorpholines was discovered as potent RORγt agonists. Tetrahydroquinoline compound 8g (EC₅₀ = 8.9 ± 0.4 nM, max. act. = 104.5%) and benzomorpholine compound 9g (EC₅₀ = 7.5 ± 0.6 nM, max. act. = 105.8%) were representative compounds with high RORγt agonistic activity in dual FRET assay, and they showed good activity in cell-based Gal4 reporter gene assay and Th17 cell differentiation assay (104.5% activation at 300 nM of 8g; 59.4% activation at 300 nM of 9g). The binding modes of 8g and 9g as well as the two RORγt inverse agonists accidentally discovered were also discussed.

视黄酸受体相关的孤儿受体γt（RORγt）是调节Th17细胞分化和白介素17（IL-17）产生的重要核受体。RORγt激动剂可增加RORγt的基础活性，并可能为癌症免疫治疗提供潜在途径。在此，在室内文库筛选期间，将命中化合物1鉴定为弱RORγt激动剂。LHS核心1的变化导致鉴定了四氢喹啉化合物6作为部分RORγt激动剂（最大作用= 39.3％）。探索了LHS核心，酰胺连接基和RHS芳基磺酰基部分的取代基之间的详细结构-活性关系，并发现了一系列新型的四氢喹啉和苯并吗啉作为有效的RORγt激动剂。四氢喹啉化合物8g（EC ₅₀ = 8.9±0.4 nM，最大作用= 104.5％）和苯并吗啉化合物9g（EC ₅₀ = 7.5±0.6 nM，最大作用= 105.8％）是具有高RORγt激动活性的代表性化合物。双重FRET检测，在基于细胞的Gal4报告基因检测和Th17细胞分化检测中显示出良好的活性（300 nM的8g激活率为104.5％; 300 nM的9g激活率为59.4％）。还讨论了8g和9g的结合方式以及意外发现的两个RORγt反向激动剂。