Identification of Potent and Selective RIPK2 Inhibitors for the Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases

Xiaohui He,Leah Clemmer,Badry Bursulaya,Laura Bordone,Hong Liu,Thomas Hollenbeck,Bo Liu,Kenneth Ng,Yong Jia,Mu-Yun Gao,Glen Spraggon,Andreas Kreusch,Sara Da Ros,Janine Baaten,David Huang,Tove Tuntland,Sheryll Espinola,Jian Shi,Barun Okram,Tao Jiang,Songchun Jiang,Shelly Meeusen,Xue‐Feng Zhu ,Inés Maya ,Robert G Hill ,Pierre‐Yves Michellys ,W Perry Gordon ,Vân Nguyên-Trân ,John W Fathman ,John T Nelson

doi:10.1021/acsmedchemlett.7b00258

Abstract

NOD2 (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2) is an internal pattern recognition receptor that recognizes bacterial peptidoglycan and stimulates host immune responses. Dysfunction of NOD2 pathway has been associated with a number of autoinflammatory disorders. To date, direct inhibitors of NOD2 have not been described due to technical challenges of targeting the oligomeric protein complex. Receptor interacting protein kinase 2 (RIPK2) is an intracellular serine/threonine/tyrosine kinase, a key signaling partner, and an obligate kinase for NOD2. As such, RIPK2 represents an attractive target to probe the pathological roles of NOD2 pathway. To search for selective RIPK2 inhibitors, we employed virtual library screening (VLS) and structure based design that eventually led to a potent and selective RIPK2 inhibitor 8 with excellent oral bioavailability, which was used to evaluate the effects of inhibition of RIPK2 in various in vitro assays and ex vivo and in vivo pharmacodynamic models.

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