Synthesis and biological evaluation of small molecule modulators of CDK8/Cyclin C complex with phenylaminoquinoline scaffold

EGFR and COX-2 Dual Inhibitor: The Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Novel Chalcones

For most researchers, discovering new anticancer drugs to avoid the adverse effects of current ones, to improve therapeutic benefits and to reduce resistance is essential. Because the COX-2 enzyme plays an important role in various types of cancer leading to malignancy enhancement, inhibition of apoptosis, and tumor-cell metastasis, an indispensable objective is to design new scaffolds or drugs that possess combined action or dual effect, such as kinase and COX-2 inhibition. The start compounds A1 to A6 were prepared through the diazo coupling of 3-aminoacetophenone with a corresponding phenol and then condensed with two new chalcone series, C7–18. The newly synthesized compounds were assessed against both COX-2 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) for their inhibitory effect. All novel compounds were screened for cytotoxicity against five cancer cell lines. Compounds C9 and G10 exhibited potent EGFR inhibition with IC₅₀ values of 0.8 and 1.1 µM, respectively. Additionally, they also displayed great COX-2 inhibition with IC₅₀ values of 1.27 and 1.88 µM, respectively. Furthermore, the target compounds were assessed for their cytotoxicity against pancreatic ductal cancer (Panc-1), lung cancer (H-460), human colon cancer (HT-29), human malignant melanoma (A375) and pancreatic cancer (PaCa-2) cell lines. Interestingly, compounds C10 and G12 exhibited the strongest cytotoxic effect against PaCa-2 with average IC₅₀ values of 0.9 and 0.8 µM, respectively. To understand the possible binding modes of the compounds under investigation with the receptor cites of EGFR and COX-2, a virtual docking study was conducted.

Novel Phenolic Compounds as Potential Dual EGFR and COX-2 Inhibitors: Design, Semisynthesis, in vitro Biological Evaluation and in silico Insights

Introduction

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition is an imperative therapeutic approach targeting various types of cancer including colorectal, lung, breast, and pancreatic cancer types. Moreover, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is frequently overexpressed in different types of cancers and has a role in the promotion of malignancy, apoptosis inhibition, and metastasis of tumor cells. Combination therapy has been emerged to improve the therapeutic benefit against cancer and curb intrinsic and acquired resistance.

Methods

Three semi-synthetic series of compounds (C1-4, P1-4, and G1-4) were prepared and evaluated biologically as potential dual epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and COX-2 inhibitors. The main phenolic constituents of Amaranthus spinosus L. (p-coumaric, caffeic and gallic) acids have been isolated and subsequently subjected to diazo coupling with various amines to get novel three chemical scaffolds with potential anticancer activities.

Results

Compounds C4 and G4 showed superior inhibitory activity against EGFR (IC₅₀: 0.9 and 0.5 µM, respectively) and displayed good COX-2 inhibition (IC₅₀: 4.35 and 2.47 µM, respectively). Moreover, the final compounds were further evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against human colon cancer (HT-29), pancreatic cancer (PaCa-2), human malignant melanoma (A375), lung cancer (H-460), and pancreatic ductal cancer (Panc-1) cell lines. Interestingly, compounds C4 and G4 exhibited the highest cytotoxic activity with average IC₅₀ values of 1.5 µM and 2.8 µM against H-460 and Panc-1, respectively. The virtual docking study was conducted to gain proper understandings of the plausible-binding modes of target compounds within EGFR and COX-2 binding sites.

Discussion

The NMR of prepared compounds showed characteristic peaks that confirmed the structure of the target compounds. The synthesized benzoxazolyl scaffold containing compounds showed inhibitory activities for both COXs and EGFR which are consistent with the virtual docking study.

A New CDK2 Inhibitor with 3-Hydrazonoindolin-2-One Scaffold Endowed with Anti-Breast Cancer Activity: Design, Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and In Silico Insights

Background: Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) regulate mammalian cell cycle progression and RNA transcription. Based on the structural analysis of previously reported CDK2 inhibitors, a new compound with 3-hydrazonoindolin-2-one scaffold (HI 5) was well designed, synthesized, and biologically evaluated as a promising anti-breast cancer hit compound. Methods: The potential anti-cancerous effect of HI 5 was evaluated using cytotoxicity assay, flow cytometric analysis of apoptosis and cell cycle distribution, ELISA immunoassay, in vitro CDK2/cyclin A2 activity, and molecular operating environment (MOE) virtual docking studies. Results: The results revealed that HI 5 exhibits pronounced CDK2 inhibitory activity and cytotoxicity in human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line. The cytotoxicity of HI 5 was found to be intrinsically mediated apoptosis, which in turn, is associated with low Bcl-2 expression and high activation of caspase 3 and p53. Besides, HI 5 blocked the proliferation of the MCF-7 cell line and arrested the cell cycle at the G2/M phase. The docking studies did not confirm which one of geometric isomers (syn and anti) is responsible for binding affinity and intrinsic activity of HI 5. However, the molecular dynamic studies have confirmed that the syn-isomer has more favorable binding interaction and thus is responsible for CDK2 inhibitory activity. Discussion: These findings displayed a substantial basis of synthesizing further derivatives based on the 3-hydrazonoindolin-2-one scaffold for favorable targeting of breast cancer.

Sulfonamide-based 4-anilinoquinoline derivatives as novel dual Aurora kinase (AURKA/B) inhibitors: Synthesis, biological evaluation and in silico insights

Aurora kinases (AURKs) were identified as promising druggable targets for targeted cancer therapy. Aiming at the development of novel chemotype of dual AURKA/B inhibitors, herein we report the design and synthesis of three series of 4-anilinoquinoline derivatives bearing a sulfonamide moiety (5a-d, 9a-d and 11a-d). The % inhibition of AURKA/B was determined for all target quinolines, then compounds showed more than 50% inhibition on either of the enzymes, were evaluated further for their IC₅₀ on the corresponding enzyme. In particular, compound 9d displayed potent AURKA/B inhibitory activities with IC₅₀ of 0.93 and 0.09 µM, respectively. Also, 9d emerged as the most efficient anti-proliferative analogue in the US-NCI anticancer assay toward the NCI 60 cell lines panel, with broad spectrum activity against different cell lines from diverse cancer subpanels. Docking studies, confirmed that, the sulfonamide SO₂ oxygen was involved in a hydrogen bond with Lys162 and Lys122 in AURKA and AURKB, respectively, whereas, the sulfonamide NH could catch hydrogen bond interaction with the surrounding amino acid residues Lys141, Glu260, and Asn261 in AURKA and Lys101, Glu177, and Asp234 in AURKB. Furthermore, N1 nitrogen of the quinoline scaffold formed an essential hydrogen bond with the hinge region key amino acids Ala213 and Ala173 in AURKA and AURKB, respectively.