Inhibitory Effects of New Mercapto Xanthine Derivatives in Human mcf7 and k562 Cancer Cell Lines

A series of new 2‐methyl‐2‐(1,3‐Diethyl‐2,6‐dioxo‐2,3,6,7‐tetrahydro‐1H‐purin‐8‐yl)thio]‐N‐ substituted arylacetamides were synthesized. The antitumor activity of these purine based compounds were evaluated on breast cancer (MCF7) and leukemic cancer (K562) cell lines via cell viability assay utilizing the tetrazolium dye 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). These results were substantiated using computer docking experiments (LigandFit docking engine and PMF scoring function) which predict that the antitumor activity of these new compounds may be attributable to their abilities to effectively bind and block oncogenic tyrosine kinases, particularly bcr/abl.