Adrián Gironda-Martínez; Émile M. D. Gorre; Luca Prati; Jean-François Gosalbes; Sheila Dakhel; Samuele Cazzamalli; Florent Samain; Etienne J. Donckele; Dario Neri
J. Med. Chem., 2021, 64(23), 17496-17510
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01693

Abstract

Interleukin-2 (IL2) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays a crucial role in immunity, which is increasingly being used for therapeutic applications. There is growing interest in developing IL2-based therapeutics which do not interact with the alpha subunit of the IL2 receptor (CD25) as this protein is primarily found on immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs). Screenings of a new DNA-encoded library, comprising 669,240 members, provided a novel series of IL2 ligands, subsequently optimized by medicinal chemistry. One of these molecules (compound 18) bound to IL2 with a dissociation constant of 0.34 μM was able to form a kinetically stable complex with IL2 in size-exclusion chromatography and recognized the CD25-binding site as evidenced by competition experiments with the NARA1 antibody. Compound 18 and other members of the series may represent the starting point for the discovery of potent small-molecule modulators of IL2 activity, abrogating the binding to CD25.