Discovery of [1,2,4]Triazolo[1,5-a]pyridine Derivatives as Potent and Orally Bioavailable ROR gamma t Inverse Agonists.
Nakajima, R., Oono, H., Sugiyama, S., Matsueda, Y., Ida, T., Kakuda, S., Hirata, J., Baba, A., Makino, A., Matsuyama, R., White, R.D., Wurz, R.P., Shin, Y., Min, X., Guzman-Perez, A., Wang, Z., Symons, A., Singh, S.K., Mothe, S.R., Belyakov, S., Chakrabarti, A., Shuto, S.(2020) ACS Med Chem Lett 11: 528-534
- PubMed: 32292560 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00649
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
6O3Z - PubMed Abstract: 
The retinoic acid receptor-related orphan nuclear receptor γt (RORγt), a promising therapeutic target, is a major transcription factor of genes related to psoriasis pathogenesis such as interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-22, and IL-23R. On the basis of the X-ray cocrystal structure of RORγt with 1a , an analogue of the known piperazine RORγt inverse agonist 1 , triazolopyridine derivatives of 1 were designed and synthesized, and analogue 3a was found to be a potent RORγt inverse agonist. Structure-activity relationship studies on 3a , focusing on the treatment of its metabolically unstable cyclopentyl ring and the central piperazine core, led to a novel analogue, namely, 6-methyl- N -(7-methyl-8-(((2 S ,4 S )-2-methyl-1-(4,4,4-trifluoro-3-(trifluoromethyl)butanoyl)piperidin-4-yl)oxy)[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5- a ]pyridin-6-yl)nicotinamide ( 5a ), which exhibited strong RORγt inhibitory activity and a favorable pharmacokinetic profile. Moreover, the in vitro and in vivo evaluation of 5a in a human whole-blood assay and a mouse IL-18/23-induced cytokine expression model revealed its robust and dose-dependent inhibitory effect on IL-17A production.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Teijin Institute for Bio-medical Research, Teijin Pharma Limited, 4-3-2 Asahigaoka, Hino, Tokyo 191-8512, Japan.