Design, Synthesis, Molecular Docking, Dynamics and in vitro Evaluation of Novel 2-substituted-1-hydroxyethane-1, 1-bis(phosphonic acid) Derivatives as Human Farnesyl Pyrophosphate Synthase Inhibitors with Expected Anticancer Activity

BACKGROUND

Nitrogenous bisphosphonates (NBPs) are the major class of drugs that are used to treat osteoporosis. Recently, bisphosphonates (BPs) were reported to have an anticancer effect. These agents feature a high affinity that enables them to bind strongly to the human farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase enzyme. The correlation between this affinity and their anticancer effect was confirmed.

OBJECTIVE

To date, the use of an oxygen atom as an isosteric replacement for the electronegative nitrogen atom in NBPs has not been reported, and its ability to retain the linker length and bisphosphonate pharmacophore remains unknown. The main aim of this work was to design some isosteric bisphosphonate analogs with oxygen atoms and evaluation of their binding affinity and anticancer activity.

METHODS

The binding mode and stability of the designed compounds were achieved using human farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (HFPPS) by docking and dynamic simulations. The compounds were synthesized, characterized, and screened for their anticancer activity against the breast cancer MCF-7 cell line and lung cancer A-549 cell line. The inhibitory activity of the tested compounds against HFPPS was evaluated.

RESULTS

The compounds under investigation showed potential anticancer activity against the lung cell line with IC50 values of 41.7, 47.4, and 34.8 μg/ml in comparison to that of Risedronic acid (115 μg/ml). However, they do not exhibit potential activity against the breast cancer cell line.

CONCLUSION

Compounds VII and VIII showed in vitro inhibition of human farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase with IC50 values of 82.2 and 98.8 μg/ml, respectively. Further optimization may be required in the future.

Persistency with zoledronic acid is associated with clinical benefit in patients with multiple myeloma

Zoledronic acid (ZOL), an intravenous bisphosphonate, has been shown to reduce and delay the incidence of skeletal-related events (SREs) in multiple myeloma (MM) patients with bone disease. A retrospective claims-based analysis was conducted that used two distinct US managed care databases to examine the relationship between persistency with ZOL and clinical benefit. Patients >18 years, diagnosed with MM, and with at least one claim for ZOL (or a claim for malignant bone disease and ZOL initiation within 30 days) between 1/1/2001 and 12/31/2006 were included. Patients were evaluated for incidence of SREs and for mortality. Treatment persistency was defined as the absence of a >45 day gap between ZOL administrations. Of 1,655 patients in this analysis, 1,060 received ZOL and 595 received no intravenous bisphosphonate therapy. Compared with patients not receiving bisphosphonate therapy, ZOL-treated patients had lower incidences of SREs (P < 0.0001) and death (P = 0.0001). Longer persistency with ZOL was associated with lower risks of SREs (P = 0.001), fracture (P = 0.003), and death (P = 0.002) versus shorter persistency. Patients who were persistent with ZOL for ≥1.5 years had an incidence of 15.0 SREs and 6.2 fractures per 100 person-years. Patients who were persistent for 31-90 days had an incidence of 24.6 SREs and 14.0 fractures per 100 person-years, and patients not receiving intravenous bisphosphonates had an incidence of 32.2 SREs and 16.9 fractures per 100 person-years. These data from a real-world setting indicate that among MM patients, longer persistency with ZOL was associated with a lower risk of SREs and fracture.