Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) are important targets in the tumor microenvironment for cancer therapy. In the present study, a set of naphthoquinone aromatic amide-oxime derivatives were designed, which stimulated the immune response via IDO1 inhibition and simultaneously displayed powerful antitumor activity against three selected cancer cell lines through suppressing STAT3 signaling. The representative compound 8u bound effectively to IDO1, with greater inhibitory activity relative to the commercial IDO1 inhibitor 4-amino-N-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)-N'-hydroxy-1,2,5-oxadiazole-3-carboximidamide (IDO5L) in addition to the efficient suppression of nuclear translocation of STAT3. Consistently, in vivo assays demonstrated a higher antiproliferative activity of compound 8u in both wild-type B16-F10 isograft tumors and an athymic HepG2 xenograft model relative to 1-methyl-l-tryptophan (1-MT) and doxorubicin (DOX). This bifunctional compound with dual immunotherapeutic and anticancer efficacy may represent a new generation of highly efficacious drug candidates for cancer therapy.

中文翻译：

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双功能萘醌芳香酰胺-肟衍生物通过同时靶向吲哚胺-2,3-双加氧酶和信号转导器和转录激活剂发挥联合免疫治疗和抗肿瘤作用。

Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) 和信号转导和转录激活因子 3 (STAT3) 是肿瘤微环境中用于癌症治疗的重要靶点。在本研究中，设计了一组萘醌芳香酰胺肟衍生物，它们通过抑制 IDO1 来刺激免疫反应，同时通过抑制 STAT3 信号传导对三种选定的癌细胞系显示出强大的抗肿瘤活性。代表性化合物8u与IDO1有效结合，相对于商业IDO1抑制剂4-氨基-N-(3-氯-4-氟苯基)-N'-羟基-1,2,5-恶二唑-3-具有更大的抑制活性羧酰亚胺酰胺 (IDO5L) 除了有效抑制 STAT3 的核易位。一贯地，体内试验证明化合物 8u 在野生型 B16-F10 同种移植肿瘤和无胸腺 HepG2 异种移植模型中相对于 1-甲基-1-色氨酸 (1-MT) 和多柔比星 (DOX) 具有更高的抗增殖活性。这种具有双重免疫治疗和抗癌功效的双功能化合物可能代表新一代高效的癌症治疗候选药物。