Novel Perbutyrylated Glucose Derivatives of (–)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Inhibit Cancer Cells Proliferation by Decreasing Phosphorylation of the EGFR: Synthesis,Cytotoxicity, and Molecular Docking

Lung cancer is one of the most commonly occurring cancer mortality worldwide. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays an important role in cellular functions and has become the new promising target. Natural products and their derivatives with various structures, unique biological activities, and specific selectivity have served as lead compounds for EGFR. D-glucose and EGCG were used as starting materials. A series of glucoside derivatives of EGCG (7–12) were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity against five human cancer cell lines, including HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7, and SW480. In addition, we investigated the structure-activity relationship and physicochemical property–activity relationship of EGCG derivatives. Compounds 11 and 12 showed better growth inhibition than others in four cancer cell lines (HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, and MCF), with IC₅₀ values in the range of 22.90–37.87 μM. Compounds 11 and 12 decreased phosphorylation of EGFR and downstream signaling protein, which also have more hydrophobic interactions than EGCG by docking study. The most active compounds 11 and 12, both having perbutyrylated glucose residue, we found that perbutyrylation of the glucose residue leads to increased cytotoxic activity and suggested that their potential as anticancer agents for further development.     

Facile One-Pot Multicomponent Synthesis of Pyrazolo-Thiazole Substituted Pyridines with Potential Anti-Proliferative Activity: Synthesis,In Vitro and In Silico Studies

Pyrazolothiazole-substituted pyridine conjugates are an important class of heterocyclic compounds with an extensive variety of potential applications in the medicinal and pharmacological arenas. Therefore, herein, we describe an efficient and facile approach for the synthesis of novel pyrazolo-thiazolo-pyridine conjugate 4, via multicomponent condensation. The latter compound was utilized as a base for the synthesis of two series of 15 novel pyrazolothiazole-based pyridine conjugates (5–16). The newly synthesized compounds were fully characterized using several spectroscopic methods (IR, NMR and MS) and elemental analyses. The anti-proliferative impact of the new synthesized compounds 5–13 and 16 was in vitro appraised towards three human cancer cell lines: human cervix (HeLa), human lung (NCI-H460) and human prostate (PC-3). Our outcomes regarding the anti-proliferative activities disclosed that all the tested compounds exhibited cytotoxic potential towards all the tested cell lines with IC₅₀ = 17.50–61.05 µM, especially the naphthyridine derivative 7, which exhibited the most cytotoxic potential towards the tested cell lines (IC₅₀ = 14.62–17.50 µM) compared with the etoposide (IC50 = 13.34–17.15 µM). Moreover, an in silico docking simulation study was performed on the newly prepared compounds within topoisomerase II (3QX3), to suggest the binding mode of these compounds as anticancer candidates. The in silico docking results indicate that compound 7 was a promising lead anticancer compound which possesses high binding affinity toward topoisomerase II (3QX3) protein.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new 9-aminoacridine-4-carboxamide derivatives as anticancer agents: 1st Cancer Update

The design of molecules that recognize the specific sequence of the DNA double helix or those that can stabilize DNA topoisomerase cleavable complex to stop the progression of DNA process, may be very useful in cancer chemotherapy. In the field of antituor DNA-intercalating agents, 9-aminoacridine-4-carboxamide derivatives play an important role due to their anti-proliferative properties. In the present study, 9-aminoacridine-4-carboxamide derivatives were designed, synthesized, characterized and evaluated against lung cancer (A-549) cell line and cervical cancer (HeLa) cell line in vitro by MTT assay. Compounds 5a, 5b and 5e were selected for anticancer evaluation against the lung cancer cell line and cervical cancer cell line. Compound 5b showed the maximum activity against the cervical cancer (HeLa) cell line with CTC₅₀ (47.50 μg/ml) and compound 5e showed the maximum activity against the lung cancer (A-549) cell line with CTC₅₀ (100 μg/ml) among the tested compounds. The present study opens new vista for DNA intercalating anticancer compounds and their further in vivo investigation.     

Synthesis and antitumor activity of camptothecin- 4β-triazolopodophyllotoxin conjugates

Abstract

Two new compounds (9 and 10) having a camptothecin (CPT) analog conjugated to the 4β-azido-4-deoxypodophyllotixin analog by untilizing the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloadditon (CuAAC) reaction, and were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against a panel of five human cancer cell lines (HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7 and SW480) using the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiahiazo-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. Two novel conjugates shown weak cytotoxicity, compound 10 showed highly potent against HL-60 cell line tested, with IC₅₀ value 17.69?±?0.19?μM. This compound suggested its potential as anticancer agents for further development.

     

Identification of Vinyl Sulfone Derivatives as EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor: In Vitro and In Silico Studies

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), overexpressed in many types of cancer, has been proved as a high potential target for targeted cancer therapy due to its role in regulating proliferation and survival of cancer cells. In the present study, a series of designed vinyl sulfone derivatives was screened against EGFR tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) using in silico and in vitro studies. The molecular docking results suggested that, among 78 vinyl sulfones, there were eight compounds that could interact well with the EGFR-TK at the ATP-binding site. Afterwards, these screened compounds were tested for the inhibitory activity towards EGFR-TK using ADP-Glo™ kinase assay, and we found that only VF16 compound exhibited promising inhibitory activity against EGFR-TK with the IC₅₀ value of 7.85 ± 0.88 nM. In addition, VF16 showed a high cytotoxicity with IC₅₀ values of 33.52 ± 2.57, 54.63 ± 0.09, and 30.38 ± 1.37 µM against the A431, A549, and H1975 cancer cell lines, respectively. From 500-ns MD simulation, the structural stability of VF16 in complex with EGFR-TK was quite stable, suggesting that this compound could be a novel small molecule inhibitor targeting EGFR-TK.     

Design,Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of a New Series of N-aryl-N′-[4-(pyridin-2-ylmethoxy)benzyl]urea Derivatives

The development of cancer treatments requires continuous exploration and improvement, in which the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of cancer is still an important pathway. In this study, based on the molecular hybridization strategy, a new structural framework with an N-aryl-N’-arylmethylurea scaffold was designed, and 16 new target compounds were synthesized and evaluated for their antiproliferative activities against four different cancer cell lines A549, MCF7, HCT116, PC3, and human liver normal cell line HL7702. The results have shown seven compounds with 1-methylpiperidin-4-yl groups having excellent activities against all four cancer cell lines, and they exhibited scarcely any activities against HL7702. Among them, compound 9b and 9d showed greatly excellent activity against the four kinds of cells, and the IC₅₀ for MCF7 and PC3 cell lines were even less than 3 μM.     

Enantioselective approach towards the synthesis of spiro-indeno [1,2-b] quinoxaline pyrrolothiazoles as antioxidant and antiproliferative

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of azomethine ylide generated in situ from indeno quinoxaline and thiazolidine-2-carboxylic acid to a series of quinoline bearing dipolarophile afforded novel spiro indeno-quinoxaline pyrrolo thiazoles in quantitative yields. The newly synthesized compounds were characterized using different spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, the molecular structure of compound 5c was confirmed by single crystal X-ray crystallography. The synthesized compounds were screened for their in vitro antioxidant activity and in vitro cytotoxic activity against breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and adenocarcinomic cancer cell line A-549. Compound containing more electron donors in quinoline site were found to be more potent with good IC₅₀ values.     

Synthesis,cytotoxicity, apoptosis and molecular docking studies of novel phenylbutyrate derivatives as potential anticancer agents

Phenylbutyrate (PB), a small aromatic fatty acid, has been known as an interesting compound with the ability of anti-proliferation and cell growth inhibition in cancer cells. In the present study, a series of PB derivatives were synthesized by Passerini multicomponent reaction and their cytotoxic activities against various human cancer cell lines including A549 (non-small cell lung cancer), MDA-MB-231 (breast cancer), and SW1116 (colon cancer) were evaluated. The results revealed that B9, displayed significantly higher in vitro cytotoxicity with IC₅₀ of 6.65, 8.44 and 24.71 μM, against A549, MDA-MB-231 and, SW1116, respectively, in comparison to PB. The effects of these compounds on the proliferation of MCF-10A as non-tumoral breast cell line, showed good selectivity of the compounds between tumorigenic and non-tumorigenic cell lines. Moreover, B9 has indicated apoptosis-inducing activities to MDA-MB-231 cancer cell line in a dose-dependent manner. The molecular docking studies of the synthesized compounds on pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 2 (PDK2; PDB ID: 2BU8) and histone deacetylase complex (HDAC; PDB ID: 1C3R), as the main targets of PB were applied to predict the binding sites and binding orientation of the compounds to these targets.     

The preparation and evaluation of 1-substituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro- and 3,4-dihydro-beta-carboline derivatives as potential antitumor agents

A series of 1-substituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro- and 3,4-dihydro-beta-carboline derivatives have been synthesized and evaluated for antitumor activity against murine P-388 and human tumor cell lines, KB-16, A-549 and HT-29. All of the compounds prepared, except for 19, showed significant cytotoxicity. Among them, compound 29 exhibited the most potent activity against all tested tumor cell lines. There was an apparent lack of correlation regarding cytotoxicity between 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro- and 3,4-dihydro-beta-carbolines. This study is the first to discover compound 29 as a potential lead for the development of future anticancer agents. The mode of inhibition for compound 29 was proposed.     

Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation of novel brominated N-alkyl pyrano[3,2-c]quinolinones

A novel series of 6-alkyl-4-bromopyrano[3,2-c]quinoline-2,5-diones ( 2a–c ), 6-alkyl-3,4-dibromopyrano[3,2-c]quinoline-2,5-diones ( 4a–c ), and 6-alkyl-3-amino-bromopyrano[3,2-c]quinoline-2,5-diones ( 6a–c ) were synthesized via appropriate conventional methods and in good yields. The structures of target compounds were approved by elemental analysis, IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and mass spectrometry. The antitumor inhibitory activities of the new compounds were evaluated on several cancer cell lines, A-549 (human lung cancer), HCT-116 (human colon cancer), MCF-7 (breast cancer), and HePG-2 (human liver cancer). Moreover, 50% inhibitory concentrations, IC₅₀, were established. 5-Fluorouracil was used as a positive control in the viability assay. The screening results showed that most of the examined compounds exposed powerful inhibition activity toward various cell lines. Particularly, Compound 4c exhibited higher cytotoxic activity against four tumor cell lines than the reference drug, 5-fluorouracil, with significantly lower IC₅₀ values. Accordingly, most of the synthesized compounds would be a better prospective growth in the anticancer drug discovery.     

In Silico Approach Using Free Software to Optimize the Antiproliferative Activity and Predict the Potential Mechanism of Action of Pyrrolizine-Based Schiff Bases

In the current study, a simple in silico approach using free software was used with the experimental studies to optimize the antiproliferative activity and predict the potential mechanism of action of pyrrolizine-based Schiff bases. A compound library of 288 Schiff bases was designed based on compound 10, and a pharmacophore search was performed. Structural analysis of the top scoring hits and a docking study were used to select the best derivatives for the synthesis. Chemical synthesis and structural elucidation of compounds 16a–h were discussed. The antiproliferative activity of 16a–h was evaluated against three cancer (MCF7, A2780 and HT29, IC₅₀ = 0.01–40.50 μM) and one normal MRC5 (IC₅₀ = 1.27–24.06 μM) cell lines using the MTT assay. The results revealed the highest antiproliferative activity against MCF7 cells for 16g (IC₅₀ = 0.01 μM) with an exceptionally high selectivity index of (SI = 578). Cell cycle analysis of MCF7 cells treated with compound 16g revealed a cell cycle arrest at the G₂/M phase. In addition, compound 16g induced a dose-dependent increase in apoptotic events in MCF7 cells compared to the control. In silico target prediction of compound 16g showed six potential targets that could mediate these activities. Molecular docking analysis of compound 16g revealed high binding affinities toward COX-2, MAP P38α, EGFR, and CDK2. The results of the MD simulation revealed low RMSD values and high negative binding free energies for the two complexes formed between compound 16g with EGFR, and CDK2, while COX-2 was in the third order. These results highlighted a great potentiality for 16g to inhibit both CDK2 and EGFR. Taken together, the results mentioned above highlighted compound 16g as a potential anticancer agent.     

Synthesis and anticancer study of 9-aminoacridine derivatives

Acridine and its derivatives, well known as DNA intercalates lead to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. 9-Aminoacridine derivatives were synthesized, characterized and evaluated against lung cancer (A-549) cell line and cervical cancer (HeLa) cell line by MTT assay. Compound 9 exhibited potent anticancer activity with CTC₅₀ (13.75 & 18.75 μg/ml) for cervical cancer cell (HeLa) line and lung cancer cell (A-549) line respectively. In vitro short term cytotoxicity evaluation of compound 9 was carried out by Dalton’s Lymphoma Ascites (DLA) with percentage growth inhibition CTC₅₀ (337.5 μg/ml). Compound 7 also exhibited good anticancer activity with CTC₅₀ (31.25 & 36.25 μg/ml) for cervical cancer cell (HeLa) line and lung cancer cell (A-549) line respectively. Further in vivo study of newly synthesized 9-aminoacridine derivative can give a ray of light in the field of anticancer drugs.     

Structurally diverse diterpenoids from Trigonostemon howii

Phytochemical investigation on the stems and leaves of Trigonostemon howii resulted in the isolation of a new abietane diterpenoid, trigohowimine A (1), along with seven known structurally diverse diterpenoids (2–8). The structure of 1 was elucidated by extensive spectroscopic methods and the known compounds were identified by comparison with data reported in the literature. New compound 1 was evaluated for its cytotoxicities against five human cancer cell lines: HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7 and SW480. Compound 1 showed significant inhibitory effects against various human cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.82 to 8.53 μM.     

Synthesis and cytotoxic activity of resveratrol-based compounds

In continuation of our studies on compounds with a resveratrol-based scaffold two compounds with N-containing functional groups have been synthesized and screened for their inhibitory effect on the growth of the human cancer cell lines HT29, 518A2, AsPC-1, BxPC-3, and PC-3. Compound 4, but not 1, demonstrated pronounced in vitro cytotoxicity against all these cancer cell lines, thus making this compound a promising candidate for further preclinical in vivo studies. Correspondence: Thomas Erker, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.     

Synthesis of Novel Methyl 3-(hetero)arylthieno[3,2-b]pyridine-2-carboxylates and Antitumor Activity Evaluation: Studies In Vitro and In Ovo Grafts of Chick Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) with a Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Line

A series of novel functionalized methyl 3-(hetero)arylthieno[3,2-b]pyridine-2-carboxylates 2a–2h were synthesized by C-C Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of methyl 3-bromothieno[3,2-b]pyridine-2-carboxylate with (hetero)aryl pinacol boranes, trifluoro potassium boronate salts or boronic acids. Their antitumoral potential was evaluated in two triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines—MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468, by sulforhodamine B assay. Their effects on the non-tumorigenic MCF-12A cells were also evaluated. The results demonstrated that three compounds caused growth inhibition in both TNBC cell lines, with little or no effect against the non-tumorigenic cells. The most promising compound was further studied concerning possible effects on cell viability (by trypan blue exclusion assay), cell proliferation (by bromodeoxyuridine assay) and cell cycle profile (by flow cytometry). The results demonstrated that the GI₅₀ concentration of compound 2e (13 μM) caused a decreased in MDA-MB-231 cell number, which was correlated with a decreased in the % of proliferating cells. Moreover, this compound increased G0/G1 phase and decreased S phases, when compared to control cells (although was not statistic significant). Interestingly, compound 2e also reduced tumor size using an in ovo CAM (chick chorioallantoic membrane) model. This work highlights the potential antitumor effect of a novel methyl 3-arylthieno[3,2-b]pyridine-2-carboxylate derivative.     

Uracil-coumarin based hybrid molecules as potent anti-cancer and anti-bacterial agents

In the current report, we have rationally designed a series of uracil-coumarin based bifunctional molecular hybrids roped by 1,2,3-triazole moiety. The designed compounds were synthesized and tested against a panel of six human cancer cell lines namely Colo-205, MCF-7, A-549, PA-1, PC-3 and Hela cells by Sulforhodamine B assay. The results indicated that the hybrid molecules can specifically inhibit the MCF-7 cancer cell proliferation amongst which A-2 was found to be most potent hybrid (GI₅₀ = 1.55 µM) with fluorine atom as R with two carbon chain length between triazole and coumarin moieties. Cell cycle analysis revealed that A-2 significantly arrest the G2/M phase to inhibit proliferation of MCF-7 cells. Due to its mitotic arrest, A-2 was further analyzed to predict its various binding interactions within the active site of tubulin, which revealed its best binding pattern within the vinblastine binding site. In addition to this, antibacterial potential of all the synthetics was also evaluated which resulted in two hit lead molecules A-2 (MIC = 11.7 μg/mL) and A-3 (MIC = 7.23 μg/mL) that can significantly inhibit the bacterial strain Staphylococcus aureus comparable to that of standard drug levofloxacin (MIC = 3.12 μg/mL). Binding interactions within the active site of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) were also streamlined by using molecular docking studies. Overall studies revealed some interesting features of synthetics to be active which stated that, the compounds with electronegative atom on R and compounds with two carbon chain length between triazole and coumarin showed best results.     

Synthesis,characterization and biological evaluation of some novel sulfonylthiosemicarbazides

Abstract

A series of thiosemicarbazides were synthesized and structurally characterized by spectroscopic techniques (NMR, FT-IR) besides elemental analysis. These compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against human breast cancer cell line MCF7 and prostate cancer cell line PC3 and nonmalignant fibroblast L929 cell line by MTT assay. Among the compounds, N-[2-(4-chlorophenyl)ethyl]-2-[(4-methylphenyl)sulfonyl]hydrazinecarbothioamide (3d) and 2-[(4-methylphenyl)sulfonyl]-N-[4-(trifluoromethoxy)phenyl]hydrazinecarbothioamide (3f) were found to display significant cytotoxicity with IC₅₀ of 13.87?μM (against PC3 cell line) and 1.47?μM (against MCF7 cell line), respectively. These compounds were non-cytotoxic to normal cell line with IC₅₀>100?μM. Western blotting studies demonstrated that compound 3f induced apoptosis and caused cell death in the MCF7 and PC3 cell lines via an increase in Bax protein expression and a slight decrease in Bcl-2 protein expression. The gene expression ratio Bax/Bcl-2 showed the induction of mitochondrial apoptosis in cancer cell lines. All of synthesized compounds have also been tested for antioxidant activity and all compounds achieved strong inhibition of the DPPH radical. These findings showed that compound 3f, displays potential to be further explored in the development of new anticancer agents.     

Synthesis of indole based novel small molecules and their in vitro anti-proliferative effects on various cancer cell lines

Indole based novel small molecules were designed as potential anticancer agents. Multi step synthesis of these compounds was carried out by using Pd/C–Cu mediated coupling–cyclization strategy as a key step. The single crystal X-ray diffraction study was used to confirm the molecular structure of a representative compound unambiguously. Many of these compounds were evaluated for their anti-proliferative properties in vitro against six cancer cell lines as well as noncancerous cells. All these compounds showed selective growth inhibition of cancer cells and several of them were found to be promising with IC₅₀ values in the range of 0.1–1.2 μM, comparable to the known anticancer drug doxorubicin.     

Quinoline conjugated 2-azetidinone derivatives as prospective anti-breast cancer agents: In vitro antiproliferative and anti-EGFR activities,molecular docking and in-silico drug likeliness studies

Two series [1–8 (series-1) and 9–16 (series-2)] of quinoline conjugated 2-azetidinones were evaluated for their antiproliferative potential against breast cancer cell lines MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 respectively. All the compounds were more active towards against MCF7 than MDA-MB-231 cancer cell lines and few compounds activity was more than the standard erlotinib. For instance, the compound 16 of series-2 bearing electron withdrawing fluorine atom at the 6th position of quinoline ring showed promising activity with MIC values of 2.33 ± 0.19 µg/mL for MCF7 and 4.19 ± 0.22 µg/mL for MDA-MB-231 cells, respectively. In a similar way, the compounds 8 and 14 containing fluorine and chlorine substituents respectively, and located at position-6 of quinoline scaffold showed better activity than erlotinib. The ability of target compounds to inhibit EGFR tyrosine kinase, one of the key enzymes involved in breast carcinomas was evaluated by in vitro enzymatic assay and it was found that the compound 8 had close inhibitory activity to erlotinib with an %inhibition of 97.1 ± 0.08 at 10 µM. The compounds showed selective toxicity on the cancer cell lines as their IC₅₀ values are high against the human normal liver cell line-LO2. Further, the docking studies of the promising compounds 8, 14 and 16 revealed the important molecular interactions with the EGFR kinase enzyme (PDB ID: 6S9B). The physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties of the most active compounds were predicted using Swiss ADME and pkCSM tools respectively. The most promising compounds arisen from the present study can be considered as prospective lead molecules for anticancer activity against breast carcinoma.     

Synthesis,biological evaluation,and docking study of a series of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole derivatives with an indole-triazole-peptide conjugate

A series of new compounds containing an indole-triazole - peptide conjugate were designed as potential agents possessing the dual anti-bacterial and anticancer activities. Accordingly, 20 compounds were prepared via a multi-step synthesis involving the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) as a key step in moderate to high yield. All the synthesized compounds were purified by chromatographic techniques and characterized by IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR and mass spectral data. The synthesized derivatives were screened for their antimicrobial activities against one gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and three gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Proteus vulgaris) bacteria using an agar-well diffusion method. Most of the compounds showed moderate to reasonable antibacterial activities especially the compound 9e that showed good activities against all the strains. The potential of DNA gyrase inhibitory activity of this compound was assessed by using molecular docking studies in silico carried out using Autodock Vina software. The low ΔG_bind value (−9.4 Kcal/mol) of compound 9e suggested its good interactions with the target protein in silico. The cytotoxic activities of some of the compounds synthesized were evaluated via a MTT assay using the human lung cancer cell line A549. Several compounds showed promising activities among which compound 9b , 9k, and 9e showed low IC₅₀ values.