Discovery and characterisation of hydrazines as inhibitors of the immune suppressive enzyme, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1)

Screening of a fragment library identified 2-hydrazinobenzothiazole as a potent inhibitor of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1), an enzyme expressed by tumours that suppresses the immune system. Spectroscopic studies indicated that 2-hydrazinobenzothiazole interacted with the IDO1 haem and in silico docking predicted that the interaction was through hydrazine. Subsequent studies of hydrazine derivatives identified phenylhydrazine (IC50=0.25 ± 0.07 μM) to be 32-fold more potent than 2-hydrazinobenzothiazole (IC50=8.0 ± 2.3 μM) in inhibiting rhIDO1 and that it inhibited cellular IDO1 at concentrations that were noncytotoxic to cells. Here, phenylhydrazine is shown to inhibit IDO1 through binding to haem.