The discovery of potent small molecule cyclic urea activators of STING.

STING mediates innate immune responses that are triggered by the presence of cytosolic DNA. Activation of STING to boost antigen recognition is a therapeutic modality that is currently being tested in cancer patients using nucleic-acid based macrocyclic STING ligands. We describe here the discovery of 3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2(1H)-one based 6,6-bicyclic heterocyclic agonists of human STING that activate all known human variants of STING with high potency.

The discovery of potent small molecule activators of human STING.

The adaptor protein STING plays a major role in innate immune sensing of cytosolic nucleic acids, by triggering a robust interferon response. Despite the importance of this protein as a potential therapeutic target for serious unmet medical conditions including cancer and infectious disease there remains a paucity of STING ligands. Starting with a benzothiazinone series of weak STING activators (human EC50 ∼10 µM) we identified several chemotypes with sub-micromolar STING activity across all the major protein polymorphs. An example compound 53 based on an oxindole core structure demonstrated robust on-target functional activation of STING (human EC50 185 nM) in immortalised and primary cells and a cytokine induction fingerprint consistent with STING activation. Our study has identified several related series of potent small molecule human STING activators with potential to be developed as immunomodulatory therapeutics.

G10 is a direct activator of human STING.

The cGAS/STING pathway initiates an innate immune response when DNA is detected in the cytosol. DNA bound cGAS synthesizes cyclic dinucleotides which bind and activate the adaptor STING, leading to downstream secretion of Type I interferons and other pro-inflammatory NFκB pathway cytokines. In the mouse, the STING driven innate immune response is central to immune based clearance of various tumors and this has triggered a significant effort focused on the discovery of human STING agonists for the treatment of cancer. This report uses an in vitro kinase assay to show that G10, a previously identified STING pathway activator is actually a weak but direct STING agonist and identifies other more potent leads.

Dihydrochelerythrine and its derivatives: Synthesis and their application as potential G-quadruplex DNA stabilizing agents.

A convenient route was envisaged toward the synthesis of dihydrochelerythrine (DHCHL), 4 by intramolecular Suzuki coupling of 2-bromo-N-(2-bromobenzyl)-naphthalen-1-amine derivative 5 via in situ generated arylborane. This compound was converted to (±)-6-acetonyldihydrochelerythrine (ADC), 3 which was then resolved by chiral prep-HPLC. Efficiency of DHCHL for the stabilization of promoter quadruplex DNA structures and a comparison study with the parent natural alkaloid chelerythrine (CHL), 1 was performed. A thorough investigation was carried out to assess the quadruplex binding affinity by using various biophysical and biochemical studies and the binding mode was explained by using molecular modeling and dynamics studies. Results clearly indicate that DHCHL is a strong G-quadruplex stabilizer with affinity similar to that of the parent alkaloid CHL. Compounds ADC and DHCHL were also screened against different human cancer cell lines. Among the cancer cells, (±)-ADC and its enantiomers showed varied (15-48%) inhibition against human colorectal cell line HCT116 and breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 albeit low enantio-specificity in the inhibitory effect; whereas DHCHL showed 30% inhibition against A431 cell line only, suggesting the compounds are indeed cancer tissue specific.

Enantiopure synthesis of dihydrobenzo[1,4]-oxazine-3-carboxylic acids and a route to benzoxazinyl oxazolidinones.

A two step protocol is developed for the efficient synthesis of enantiopure N-Boc-dihydrobenzo[b]-1,4-oxazine-3-carboxylic acids 4 from serine derived cyclic sulfamidate via intramolecular arylamination. The RuPhos Palladacycle along with additional RuPhos ligand is found to be an efficient catalyst for the arylamination of ß-(2-bromoaryloxy)amino acids 3 to provide easy and direct access to a variety of dihydrobenzo[b]-1,4-oxazine-3-carboxylic acids 4 with complete retention of enantiopurity in moderate to high yields. Dihydrobenzo[b]-1,4-oxazine-3-carboxylic acids are not only important unnatural amino acids, but are key precursors for the synthesis of important compounds such as benzoxazinyl oxazolidinones. A general approach for the synthesis of benzoxazinyl oxazolidinone is presented.

Efficient asymmetric synthesis of N-protected-ß-aryloxyamino acids via regioselective ring opening of serine sulfamidate carboxylic acid.

First regioselective ring opening of serine derived cyclic sulfamidate by hard nucleophiles like ArONa is developed, where ß-elimination of serine sulfamidate ester by stronger nucleophiles is overcome by reversal of the electronic effect of the carboxylate anion. This method provides easy and direct access to a variety of N-Boc- and N-PMB protected ß-aryloxy-α-amino acids with complete retention of enantiopurity in moderate to high yields.