- He, Yuanzheng;
- Shi, Jingjing;
- Nguyen, Quang Tam;
- You, Erli;
- Liu, Hongbo;
- Ren, Xin;
- Wu, Zhongshan;
- Li, Jianshuang;
- Qiu, Wenli;
- Khoo, Sok Kean;
- Yang, Tao;
- Yi, Wei;
- Sun, Feng;
- Xi, Zhijian;
- Huang, Xiaozhu;
- Melcher, Karsten;
- Min, Booki;
- Xu, H Eric
Clinical application of inhaled glucocorticoids (GCs) has been hampered in the case of steroid-resistant severe asthma. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a series of highly potent GCs, including VSGC12, VSG158, and VSG159 based on the structural insight into the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Particularly, VSG158 exhibits a maximal repression of lung inflammation and is 10 times more potent than the currently most potent clinical GC, Fluticasone Furoate (FF), in a murine model of asthma. More importantly, VSG158 displays a unique property to reduce neutrophilic inflammation in a steroid-resistant airway inflammation model, which is refractory to clinically available GCs, including dexamethasone and FF. VSG158 and VSG159 are able to deliver effective treatments with reduced off-target and side effects. In addition, these GCs also display pharmacokinetic properties that are suitable for the inhalation delivery method for asthma treatment. Taken together, the excellent therapeutic and side-effect profile of these highly potent GCs holds promise for treating steroid-resistant severe asthma.