Discovery of 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives as potential antitumor agents inhibiting the programmed cell death-1/programmed cell death-ligand 1 interaction

Abstract

Inhibition of the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) interaction by small-molecule inhibitors is emerging cancer immunotherapy. A series of novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their activities in vitro and vivo to find potent inhibitors of the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction. Among them, compoundⅡ-14exhibited outstanding biochemical activity, with an IC₅₀of 0.0380 μM. Importantly, compound II-14, with a TGI value of 35.74 %, had more potent efficacy in a mouse tumor model compared to that in the control group. Surprisingly, when compound II-14 combined with 5-FU in a mouse tumor model having a TGI value of 64.59 %, which showed potential anti-tumor synergistic effects. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry analysis demonstrated thatcompound II-14 activated the immune microenvironment by promoting the infiltration of CD4⁺ T cells into tumor tissues. These results indicate that compound II-14 is a promising lead compound for further development of small-molecule PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors for cancer therapy.

Keywords: Molecular docking; PD-1/PD-L1; Small molecule inhibitor; Tumor immunity.