Nature Communications (Jul 2021)

Tetrasubstituted imidazoles as incognito Toll-like receptor 8 a(nta)gonists

  • Yi Yang,
  • Adam Csakai,
  • Shuangshuang Jiang,
  • Christina Smith,
  • Hiromi Tanji,
  • Jian Huang,
  • Torey Jones,
  • Kentaro Sakaniwa,
  • Lindsey Broadwell,
  • Chengrui Shi,
  • Subada Soti,
  • Umeharu Ohto,
  • Yaohui Fang,
  • Shu Shen,
  • Fei Deng,
  • Toshiyuki Shimizu,
  • Hang Yin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24536-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8) plays essential roles in the innate immune response to viral single-stranded RNA (ssRNA), so small molecule modulators of TLR8 are of interest, however adverse effects limit their use. Here, the authors report a tetrasubstituted imidazole CU-CPD107 with dichotomous behaviour, which inhibits R848-induced TLR8 signaling, but shows synergistic activity in the presence of ssRNA, making it a potential antiviral agent.