Abstract

Clinical success of IL-17/IL-23 pathway biologics for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis suggests that targeting RORγt, a master regulator for the proliferation and function of Th17 cells, could be an effective alternative. However, oral RORγ antagonists (VTP43742, TAK828) with high systemic exposure showed toxicity in phase I/II clinical trials and terminated development. To alleviate the potential safety concerns, identifying compounds with skin-restricted exposure amenable for topical use is of great interest. Systematic structure activity relationship study and multi-parameter optimization led to the discovery of a novel RORγ antagonist (SHR168442) with desired properties for a topical drug. It suppressed the transcription of IL-17 gene, leading to reduction of IL-17 cytokine secretion. It showed high exposure in skin, but low in plasma. Topical application of SHR168442 in Vaseline exhibited excellent efficacy in the imiquimod-induced and IL-23-induced psoriasis-like skin inflammation mouse models and correlated with the reduction of Th17 pathway cytokines, IL-6, TNFα and IL-17A. This work demonstrated restricted skin exposure of RORγ antagonist may provide a new topical treatment option as targeted therapeutics for mild to moderate psoriasis patients and may be suitable for the treatment of any other inflammatory disorders that are accessible locally.

Highlights

  • Clinical success of IL-17/IL-23 pathway biologics for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis suggests that targeting RORγt, a master regulator for the proliferation and function of Th17 cells, could be an effective alternative

  • Clinical success of IL-23/IL-17 pathway biologics suggests that targeting RORγt antagonists could be an effective alternative therapy for psoriasis

  • Based on the modeled pose of GSK805, we designed a new chemical scaffold with a benzimidazole core to mimic the amide of GSK805 while keeping the key interactions with the RORγ ligand-binding domain (LBD) such as hydrogen bonds with Cys 320, Phe 377, Gln[286], Leu[287] and Arg 367 (Fig. 1a,b)

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Summary

Introduction

Clinical success of IL-17/IL-23 pathway biologics for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis suggests that targeting RORγt, a master regulator for the proliferation and function of Th17 cells, could be an effective alternative. Oral RORγ antagonists (VTP43742, TAK828) with high systemic exposure showed toxicity in phase I/II clinical trials and terminated development. Systematic structure activity relationship study and multi-parameter optimization led to the discovery of a novel RORγ antagonist (SHR168442) with desired properties for a topical drug It suppressed the transcription of IL-17 gene, leading to reduction of IL-17 cytokine secretion. Topical corticosteroids and vitamin D analogues are applied to treat patients with mild to moderate psoriasis These treatments have limited efficacy, and cause significant side effects and patients must avoid long-term use. The skin-restricted exposure of RORγ antagonists may alleviate the safety risk due to systemic exposure while still maintaining similar efficacy as biologics in Scientific Reports | (2021) 11:9132

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