Photo effect on the CD1d-binding ability of azobenzene-attached analogues of α-GalCer.

Photo effect on the CD1d-binding ability of azobenzene-attached analogues of α-GalCer. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2020 Jan 11;:126960 Authors: Kanamori T, Numata T, Kuwabara S, Ishii Y, Watarai H, Yuasa H Abstract α-Galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) is recognized by the CD1d proteins on antigen-presenting cells at the ceramide moiety and the galactose moiety is presented to iNKT cells, which stimulates the immune responses. However, the immune suppression by repeated injections of α-GalCer has discouraged its development as an anti-cancer agent. To overcome the shortcoming by spatiotemporal restriction of its exposure, we synthesized the photochromic azobenzene-incorporated analogues and tested the photo-immunoregulation effect in its binding to CD1d. FACS analyses indicated that some of these analogues enhanced the affinity to CD1d on photo-irradiation by about 20%. A docking simulation suggests that the photochromic molecule should be bulkier for a clearer discrimination between on and off states. PMID: 31982233 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Bioorg Med Chem Lett Source Type: research