Structure-Based Design of Novel TLR7/8 Agonist Payloads Enabling an Immunomodulatory Conjugate Approach

  • ACS Med Chem Lett. 2024 Dec 19;16(1):80-88. doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.4c00463.
Yam B Poudel  1 ,  Julian C Lo  1 ,  Derek J Norris  2 ,  Matthew Cox  1 ,  Liqi He  1 ,  Walter L Johnson  1 ,  Murugaiah A M Subbaiah  3 ,  Santigopal Mondal  3 ,  Soodamani Thangavel  3 ,  Lakshumanan Subramani  3 ,  Maheswara Reddy  3 ,  Suraksha Jain  3 ,  Dahlia R Weiss  1 ,  Prasanna Sivaprakasam  2 ,  David Critton  2 ,  Dawn Mulligan  2 ,  Chunshan Xie  2 ,  Payal Dhar  1 ,  Yvonne Li  1 ,  Emanuela Sega  1 ,  Sayumi Yamazoe  1 ,  Ashvinikumar V Gavai  2 ,  Arvind Mathur  2 ,  Christoph W Zapf  4 ,  Eugene P Chekler  1
Affiliations
  • 1. Bristol Myers Squibb Research & Development, 700 Bay Road, Redwood City, California 94063, United States.
  • 2. Bristol Myers Squibb Research & Development, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, United States.
  • 3. Biocon Bristol Myers Squibb R&D Center (BBRC), Bangalore 560099, India.
  • 4. Bristol Myers Squibb Research & Development, 10300 Campus Point Drive, San Diego, California 92121, United States.
PMID: 39811121 DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.4c00463
Abstract

Dual activation of the TLR7 and TLR8 pathways leads to the production of type I interferon and proinflammatory cytokines, resulting in efficient antigen presentation by dendritic cells to promote T-cell priming and antitumor immunity. We developed a novel series of TLR7/8 dual agonists with varying ratios of TLR7 and TLR8 activity for use as payloads for an antibody-drug conjugate approach. The agonist-induced production of several cytokines in human whole blood confirmed their functional activity. Structure-activity relationship studies guided by structure-based drug design are described.

Products