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Since synovial hypoxic microenvironment significantly promotes the pathological progress of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) has been emerged as a promising target for the development of novel therapeutic agents for RA treatment. In this study, we designed and synthesized a series of diaryl substituted isoquinolin-1(2H)-one derivatives as HIF-1 signaling inhibitors using scaffold-hopping strategy. By modifying the substituents on N -atom and 6-position of isoquinolin-1-one, we discovered compound 17q with the most potent activities against HIF-1 (IC 50 = 0.55 μM) in a hypoxia-reactive element (HRE) luciferase reporter assay. Further pharmacological studies revealed that 17q concentration-dependently blocked hypoxia-induced HIF-1α protein accumulation, reduced inflammation response, inhibited cellular invasiveness and promoted VHL-dependent HIF-1α degradation in human RA synovial cell line. Moreover, 17q improved the pathological injury of ankle joints, decreased angiogenesis and attenuated inflammation response in the adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) rat model, indicating the promising therapeutic potential of compound 17q as an effective HIF-1 inhibitor for RA therapy. [Display omitted] • A series of isoquinolinone derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their inhibition on HIF-1 signaling. • 17q showed enhanced inhibition on HIF-1 signaling than its parent compound in inflammatory synovial cell line. • 17q improved the pathological injury of ankle joints, decreased angiogenesis and attenuated the inflammation in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]