α-Aminothiazole-γ-aminobutanoic amides as potent, small molecule CCR2 receptor antagonists

Discovery of INCB3344, a potent, selective and orally bioavailable antagonist of human and murine CCR2

Rational design based on a pharmacophore of CCR2 antagonists reported in the literature identified lead compound 9a with potent inhibitory activity against human CCR2 (hCCR2) but moderate activity against murine CCR2 (mCCR2). Modification on 9a led to the discovery of a potent CCR2 antagonist 21 (INCB3344) with IC(50) values of 5.1 nM (hCCR2) and 9.5 nM (mCCR2) in binding antagonism and 3.8 nM (hCCR2) and 7.8 nM (mCCR2) in antagonism of chemotaxis activity. INCB3344 exhibited >100-fold selectivity over other homologous chemokine receptors, a free fraction of 24% in human serum and 15% in mouse serum, and an oral bioavailability of 47% in mice, suitable as a tool compound for target validation in rodent models.

Probing the structural and topological requirements for CCR2 antagonism: holographic QSAR for indolopiperidine derivatives

CCR2 is the major family of chemokine receptors which involve in the pathophysiology of the acute or chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, asthma, obesity, and type-2 diabetes. Herein, we report the results of HQSAR model, developed for CCR2 antagonistic activity of indolopiperidine derivatives. The best HQSAR model with r(2)=0.916, q(2)=0.562 with atom count=4-7 was used to predict the activity of the test set molecules. The predicted values are in good agreement with experimental results and show the potential of the model for untested compounds. Analysis of molecular fragments throws light on essential structural and topological features of indolopiperidine derivatives for antagonist activity. The analysis shows that the presence of tertiary hydrogen bond acceptor groups is important for CCR2 antagonism. Fragments containing benzene ring substituted with one or more chlorine atoms show the positive effect of electron withdrawing group for favorable activity.