Design of amidobenzimidazole STING receptor agonists with systemic activity

Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is a receptor in the endoplasmic reticulum that propagates innate immune sensing of cytosolic pathogen-derived and self DNA¹. The development of compounds that modulate STING has recently been the focus of intense research for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases and as vaccine adjuvants². To our knowledge, current efforts are focused on the development of modified cyclic dinucleotides that mimic the endogenous STING ligand cGAMP; these have progressed into clinical trials in patients with solid accessible tumours amenable to intratumoral delivery³. Here we report the discovery of a small molecule STING agonist that is not a cyclic dinucleotide and is systemically efficacious for treating tumours in mice. We developed a linking strategy to synergize the effect of two symmetry-related amidobenzimidazole (ABZI)-based compounds to create linked ABZIs (diABZIs) with enhanced binding to STING and cellular function. Intravenous administration of a diABZI STING agonist to immunocompetent mice with established syngeneic colon tumours elicited strong anti-tumour activity, with complete and lasting regression of tumours. Our findings represent a milestone in the rapidly growing field of immune-modifying cancer therapies.