Over the last decade, functional selectivity (or ligand bias) has evolved from being a peculiar phenomenon to being recognized as an essential feature of synthetic ligands that target G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The CXC chemokine receptor 3 (CXCR3) is an outstanding platform to study various aspects of biased signaling, because nature itself uses functional selectivity to manipulate receptor signaling. At the same time, CXCR3 is an attractive therapeutic target in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer. Herein we report the discovery of an 8-azaquinazolinone derivative (N-{1-[3-(4-ethoxyphenyl)-4-oxo-3,4-dihydropyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidin-2-yl]ethyl}-4-(4-fluorobutoxy)-N-[(1-methylpiperidin-4-yl)methyl]butanamide, 1 b) that can inhibit CXC chemokine 11 (CXCL11)-dependent G protein activation over β-arrestin recruitment with 187-fold selectivity. This compound also demonstrates probe-dependent activity, that is, it inhibits CXCL11- over CXCL10-mediated G protein activation with 12-fold selectivity. Together with a previously reported biased negative allosteric modulator from our group, the present study provides additional information on the molecular requirements for allosteric modulation of CXCR3.

To prepare and biologically evaluate 38 new potential US28 allosteric modulators, we employed a straightforward synthetic route involving radical arylation. The study was based on a former lead structure but with the dihydroisoquinolinone moiety replaced by substituted biphenyls. The investigation of structure–activity relationships among the new biphenyl-derived ligands led to a preliminary pharmacophore model and the discovery of four promising candidates with full inverse agonist properties.