Highly Potent, Water Soluble Benzimidazole Antagonist for Activated α₄β₁Integrin

Abstract

The cell surface receptor alpha 4 beta 1 integrin, activated constitutively in lymphoma, can be targeted with the bisaryl urea peptidomimetic antagonist 1 (LLP2A). However, concerns on its preliminary pharmacokinetic (PK) profile provided an impetus to change the pharmacophore from a bisaryl urea to a 2-arylaminobenzimidazole moiety, resulting in improved solubility while maintaining picomolar potency [5 (KLCA4); IC50 = 305 pM]. With exceptional solubility, this finding has the potential for improving PK to help diagnose and treat lymphomas.