Discovery of a dual-acting inhibitor of interleukin-1β and STATs for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Currently, a significant proportion of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients fail to respond to conventional drug therapy such as immunosuppressants and biologic agents. Interference with the JAK/STAT pathway and blocking of IL-1 signaling are two promising therapeutic strategies for these unresponsive IBD patients. This work describes the discovery of an inhibitor 10v that not only blocks NLRP3 and AIM-2 inflammasome-mediated IL-1β signaling, but also reduces the expression of STAT1 and STAT5 in the JAK/STAT pathway. Importantly, 10v exhibits a significant anti-IL-1β effect and decreases the levels of STAT1 and STAT5 in a mouse model of colitis. As a result, a novel small molecule is identified with a dual inhibitory capacity towards both inflammasomes/IL-1β and STAT pathways, which supports further exploration of the therapeutic potential for IBD patients that do not respond to current drug therapy.