Nurr1 modulators - a patent review (2019-present).

Background: Nuclear receptor related 1 (Nurr1) is a ligand-activated transcription factor and considered as neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory target. Several lines of evidence support potential of Nurr1 modulation in treating neurodegenerative diseases as well as in certain cancers, but potent and selective Nurr1 modulators are rare.

Areas covered: Development of small molecule Nurr1 modulators is gaining momentum which is also reflected in recent patent applications (published between 01/2019 and 09/2024, available on Google Patents). The claimed Nurr1 ligands are derived from the natural ligands prostaglandin A and dihydroxyindole as well as synthetic scaffolds. Their proposed use mainly refers to neurodegenerative disease and cancer treatment.

Expert opinion: Nurr1 modulation is emerging as new therapeutic concept in neurodegeneration and beyond and considerable progress has been made in Nurr1 ligand discovery with several promising compounds covered by patent applications. However, some reported and claimed ligands seem to lack validation and some claims appear very broad without presenting respective examples.