Fujita-Ban QSAR analysis and CoMFA study of quinoline antagonists of immunostimulatory CpG-oligodeoxynucleotides

One hundred seven 2-arylquinolin-4-amines were assayed in vitro for inhibition of the immunostimulatory effect of oligodeoxynucleotides containing a CpG-motif. The compounds are functionalized with various basic and non-basic groups at the aryl moiety and at the amino substituent of the quinolin-4-amine, and some of them contain an additional substituent at position 6 or 7 of the quinoline. Activities of these antagonists, expressed as EC₅₀ values, range from 0.2 to 200 nM. A statistically significant structure-activity correlation was obtained for the Fujita-Ban variant of the classical Free-Wilson analysis. The CoMFA results derived from several models consistently indicate that electrostatic interactions of the molecules with a biological receptor contribute to biological activities to a greater extent than steric effects.