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Progress in programmed cell death-1/programmed cell death-ligand 1 pathway inhibitors and binding mode analysis

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Abstract

Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1) plays an important role in negative regulating immunity. The search for effective PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors has been at the cutting-edge of academic and industrial medicinal chemistry, leading to the emergence of 16 clinical candidate drugs and the launch of six monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) drugs. However, due to the unclear mechanism of the interaction between drugs and substances in vivo, the screening of preclinical drugs often takes a long time. In order to shorten the time of drug development as much as possible, the binding mode analysis that can simulate the interaction between drugs and substances in vivo at the molecular level can significantly shorten the drug development process. This paper reviews the mechanism of PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway at the molecular level, as well as the research progress and obstacles of inhibitors. Besides, we analyzed the binding mode of recently reported PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors with PD-1 or PD-L1 protein in detail in order to provide ideas for the development of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, Chun’an County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou, 311700, Zhejiang, China

    Xiaoyun Li & Zhongmei Jiang

  2. Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China

    Qin Zeng, Fengjiao Xu & Yuying Jiang

Authors
  1. Xiaoyun Li
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  2. Qin Zeng
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  3. Fengjiao Xu
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  4. Yuying Jiang
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  5. Zhongmei Jiang
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Contributions

QZ, FX, and YJ ran the statistics analysis; XL and ZJ started the project and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Zhongmei Jiang.

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Li, X., Zeng, Q., Xu, F. et al. Progress in programmed cell death-1/programmed cell death-ligand 1 pathway inhibitors and binding mode analysis. Mol Divers 27, 1935–1955 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11030-022-10509-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11030-022-10509-2

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