PEG conjugates of potent α4 integrin inhibitors, maintaining sustained levels and bioactivity in vivo, following subcutaneous administration.

Mitsunobu reactions were employed to link t-butyl esters of α4 integrin inhibitors at each of the termini of a three-arm, 40 kDa, branched PEG. Cleavage of the t-butyl esters using HCO2H provided easily isolated PEG derivatives, which are potent α4 integrin inhibitors, and which achieve sustained levels and bioactivity in vivo, following subcutaneous administration to rats.

Arylsulfonamide pyrimidines as VLA-4 antagonists.

A series of (S)-2-(2-(diethylamino)-5-(N-alkyl-N-sulfonamido)pyrimidin-4-ylamino)-3-(4-(carbamoyloxy)phenyl)propanoic acid is discovered as orally available VLA-4 antagonists. Representative compounds 11b and 11p showed efficacy in multiple in vivo animal models. The in vitro selectivity of 11p is also described.

A label-free approach to identify inhibitors of alpha4beta7-mediated cell adhesion to MadCAM.

Traditionally, cell adhesion assays are performed in a manual workstation format using fluorescence-based readouts. Herein, the authors describe a label-free homogeneous assay to identify inhibitors of α4β7 integrin-mediated cell adhesion to its ligand, the mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule (MadCAM), using the SRU BIND platform. The biosensor is optically based and comprises a subwavelength polymer grating.