Applying pattern recognition methods to analyze the molecular properties of a homologous series of nitrogen mustard agents

Bile-Acid-Appended Triazolyl Aryl Ketones: Design, Synthesis, In Vitro Anticancer Activity and Pharmacokinetics in Rats

A library of bile-acid-appended triazolyl aryl ketones was synthesized and characterized by detailed spectroscopic techniques such as ¹H and ¹³C NMR, HRMS and HPLC. All the synthesized conjugates were evaluated for their cytotoxicity at 10 µM against MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma) and 4T1 (mouse mammary carcinoma) cells. In vitro cytotoxicity studies on the synthesized conjugates against MCF-7 and 4T1 cells indicated one of the conjugate 6cf to be most active against both cancer cell lines, with IC₅₀ values of 5.71 µM and 8.71 µM, respectively, as compared to the reference drug docetaxel, possessing IC₅₀ values of 9.46 µM and 13.85 µM, respectively. Interestingly, another compound 6af (IC₅₀ = 2.61 µM) was found to possess pronounced anticancer activity as compared to the reference drug docetaxel (IC₅₀ = 9.46 µM) against MCF-7. In addition, the potent compounds (6cf and 6af) were found to be non-toxic to normal human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK 293), as evident from their cell viability of greater than 86%. Compound 6cf induces higher apoptosis in comparison to 6af (46.09% vs. 33.89%) in MCF-7 cells, while similar apoptotic potential was observed for 6cf and 6af in 4T1 cells. The pharmacokinetics of 6cf in Wistar rats showed an MRT of 8.47 h with a half-life of 5.63 h. Clearly, these results suggest 6cf to be a potential candidate for the development of anticancer agents.

A new paradigm for pattern recognition of drugs

A new paradigm is suggested for pattern recognition of drugs. The approach is based on the combined application of the 4D/3D quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) algorithms BiS and ConGO. The first algorithm, BiS/MC (multiconformational), is used for the search for the conformers interacting with a receptor. The second algorithm, ConGO, has been suggested for the detailed study of the selected conformers' electron density and for the search for the electron structure fragments that determine the pharmacophore and antipharmacophore parts of the compounds. In this work we suggest using a new AlteQ method for the evaluation of the molecular electron density. AlteQ describes the experimental electron density (determined by low-temperature highly accurate X-ray analysis) much better than a number of quantum approaches. Herein this is shown using a comparison of the computed electron density with the results of highly accurate X-ray analysis. In the present study the desirability function is used for the first time for the analysis of the effects of the electron structure in the process of pattern recognition of active and inactive compounds. The suggested method for pattern recognition has been used for the investigation of various sets of compounds such as DNA-antimetabolites, fXa inhibitors, 5-HT(1A), and alpha(1)-AR receptors inhibitors. The pharmacophore and antipharmacophore fragments have been found in the electron structures of the compounds. It has been shown that the pattern recognition cross-validation quality for the datasets is unity.