Computational-Based Discovery of the Anti-Cancer Activities of Pyrrole-Based Compounds Targeting the Colchicine-Binding Site of Tubulin |
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| Authors: | Sergei Boichuk Kirill Syuzov Firuza Bikinieva Aigul Galembikova Svetlana Zykova Ksenia Gankova Sergei Igidov Nazim Igidov |
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| Affiliation: | 1.Department of Pathology, Kazan State Medical University, 420012 Kazan, Russia; (K.S.); (F.B.); (A.G.);2.Department of Radiotherapy and Radiology, Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education, 125993 Moscow, Russia;3.Biologically Active Terpenoids Laboratory, Kazan Federal University, 18 Kremlyovskaya St., 420008 Kazan, Russia;4.Department of Pharmacology, Perm State Academy of Pharmacy, 614990 Perm, Russia; (S.Z.); (K.G.); (S.I.); (N.I.) |
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| Abstract: | Despite the tubulin-binding agents (TBAs) that are widely used in the clinic for cancer therapy, tumor resistance to TBAs (both inherited and acquired) significantly impairs their effectiveness, thereby decreasing overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates, especially for the patients with metastatic, recurrent, and unresectable forms of the disease. Therefore, the development of novel effective drugs interfering with the microtubules’ dynamic state remains a big challenge in current oncology. We report here about the novel ethyl 2-amino-1-(furan-2-carboxamido)-5-(2-aryl/tert-butyl-2-oxoethylidene)-4-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxylates (EAPCs) exhibiting potent anti-cancer activities against the breast and lung cancer cell lines in vitro. This was due to their ability to inhibit tubulin polymerization and induce cell cycle arrest in M-phase. As an outcome, the EAPC-treated cancer cells exhibited a significant increase in apoptosis, which was evidenced by the expression of cleaved forms of PARP, caspase-3, and increased numbers of Annexin-V-positive cells. By using the in silico molecular modeling methods (e.g., induced-fit docking, binding metadynamics, and unbiased molecular dynamics), we found that EAPC-67 and -70 preferentially bind to the colchicine-binding site of tubulin. Lastly, we have shown that the EAPCs indicated above and colchicine utilizes a similar molecular mechanism to inhibit tubulin polymerization via targeting the T7 loop in the β-chain of tubulin, thereby preventing the conformational changes in the tubulin dimers required for their polymerization. Collectively, we identified the novel and potent TBAs that bind to the colchicine-binding site and disrupt the microtubule network. As a result of these events, the compounds induced a robust cell cycle arrest in M-phase and exhibited potent pro-apoptotic activities against the epithelial cancer cell lines in vitro. |
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| Keywords: | microtubules ethyl-2-amino pyrrole-based carboxylates (EAPCs) tubulin depolymerization cell cycle mitotic arrest apoptosis breast lung cancer paclitaxel vinblastine colchicine induced-fit docking binding metadynamics unbiased molecular dynamics |
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