HYL001, a new potent TGFβ signaling inhibitor that is efficacious against microsatellite stable CRC metastasis in combination with immune checkpoint therapy in mice

Blockade of the TGF{beta} signalling pathway has emerged from preclinical studies as a potential treatment to enhance the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibition in advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) and several other types of cancer. However, clinical translation of first-generation inhibitors has known little success. Here, we report the synthesis and characterization of HYL001, a potent inhibitor of TGF{beta} receptor 1 (ALK5), that is approximately 9 times more efficacious than the structurally related compound galunisertib, while maintaining a favourable safety profile. HYL001 in combination with immune checkpoint blockade (anti-PD1) eradicates liver metastases generated in mice by microsatellite stable, aggressive colorectal cancer tumours at doses where galunisertib is ineffective. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=156 SRC="FIGDIR/small/593510v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (28K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1909963org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@4644d2org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1506d80org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@14504b7_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG