Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation of novel quinazolinone derivatives as potential anticancer agents

Pharmacokinetic profiling of quinazoline-4(3H)-one analogs as EGFR inhibitors: 3D-QSAR modeling, molecular docking studies and the design of therapeutic agents

Objectives

Breast tumor is ranked as the most common tumor type identified among women globally with over 1.7 million cases annually, representing 11.9% of the total number of cancer cases. Approved anti-breast tumor drugs exhibit several side effects and some patients develop resistance during the early treatment stage. This study aimed to use an in-silico approach to identify and design potential therapeutic agents.

Methods

Robust 3D-QSAR models were developed using quinazoline-4(3H)-one analogs as EGFR inhibitors. The best model was then selected based on statistical parameters and was subsequently used to design more potent therapeutic agents. Molecular docking simulation was executed using the data set and the designed compounds to identify lead compounds which were further screened by pharmacokinetic profiling by applying SwissADME and pkCSM software.

Results

Internal validations of the best CoMFA and CoMSIA models (R² = 0.855 and 0.895; Q² = 0.570 and 0.599) passed the threshold values for the establishment of a consistent QSAR model. The constructed models were further validated externally using six compounds as a test set, thus revealing a satisfactory predicted correlation coefficient (R² _pred = 0.657 and 0.681). The CoMSIA_SHE models with the best statistical parameters were further subjected to applicability domain checks and only three influentials were detected. These were then utilized to design five novel compounds with activities ranging from 5.62 to 6.03. Molecular docking studies confirmed that compounds 20 to 26, with docking scores ranging from -163.729 to -169.796, represented lead compounds with higher docking scores compared to Gefitinib (-127.495). Furthermore, the designed compounds exhibited better docking scores ranging from -171.379 to -179.138.

Conclusions

Pharmacological studies identified compounds 20, 24 26 and the designed compounds 2, 3, 5 as feasible drug candidates. However, these theoretical findings should now be validated experimentally.

Ligand-based drug design of quinazolin-4(3H)-ones as breast cancer inhibitors using QSAR modeling, molecular docking, and pharmacological profiling

BACKGROUND

Breast cancer is the most common tumor among females globally. Its prevalence is growing around the world, and it is alleged to be the leading cause of cancer death. Approved anti-breast cancer drugs display several side effects and resistance during the early treatment stage. Hence, there is a need for the development of more effective and safer drugs. This research was aimed at designing more potent quinazolin-4(3H)-one molecules as breast cancer inhibitors using a ligand-based design approach, studying their modes of interaction with the target enzyme using molecular docking simulation, and predicting their pharmacological properties.

METHODS

The QSAR model was developed using a series of quinazoline-4(3H)-one derivatives by utilizing Material Studio v8.0 software and validated both internally and externally. Applicability domain virtual screening was utilized in selecting the template molecule, which was structurally modified to design more potent molecules. The inhibitive capacities of the design molecules were predicted using the developed model. Furthermore, molecular docking was performed with the EGFR target active site residues, which were obtained from the protein data bank online server (PDB ID: 2ITO) using Molegro Virtual Docker (MVD) software. SwissADME and pkCSM online sites were utilized in predicting the pharmacological properties of the designed molecules.

RESULTS

Four QSAR models were generated, and the first model was selected due to its excellent internal and external statistical parameters as follows: R2 = 0.919, R2adj = 0.898, Q2cv = 0.819, and R2pred = 0.7907. The robustness of the model was also confirmed by the result of the Y-scrambling test performed with cR2p = 0.7049. The selected model was employed to design seven molecules, with compound 4 (pIC50 = 5.18) adopted as the template. All the designed compounds exhibit better activities ranging from pIC50 = 5.43 to 5.91 compared to the template and Doruxybucin (pIC50 = 5.35). The results of molecular docking revealed better binding with the EGFR target compared with the template and Doruxybucin. The designed compounds exhibit encouraging therapeutic applicability, as evidenced by the findings of pharmacological property prediction.

CONCLUSIONS

The designed derivatives could be utilized as novel anti-breast cancer agents.

Design, synthesis, and greener pasture biological assessment of a novel nucleoside: 1-(α-D-ribofuranosyl)-6,7-difluoro-2-methyl-4-quinazolinone as an inhibitor of COVID-19 and Alzheimer's disease

Synthesis of a new fluorinated nucleoside of 6,7-difluoro-2-methyl-4-quinazolinone was described. 2-Amino-4,5-difluorobenzoic acid 1 reacts with (CH3CO)2O followed by ammonia to form (1H)-6,7-difluoro-2-methyl-4-quinazolinone 3a. Ribosylation of a silylated 4 with l-O-acety1-2,3-5-tri-O-benzoyl-α-D-ribofuranose 5 forms a protected nucleoside 6 then unprotected from 6 to give a free nucleoside 7. Greener pasture biological docking of the cystine protease of COVID-19 [Mpro, code 7BQY, PDB] by novel nucleoside and fluoroquinazoline compounds is presented. LIGPLOT (2D) representations calculated for the same ligands are shown. A superposition of remdesivir approved medicine, N3 inhibitor, and our ligands docked together into the binding protein of 7BQY is also given for a fair comparison. The binding affinities of remdesivir, N3 inhibitor, the nucleoside 7, and fluoroquinazoline 3a, 3b compounds with 7BQY calculated under the same conditions are -7.7, -7.4, -7.6, -6.1, and -6.1 kcal mol-1, respectively. The high values were due to the existence of many hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds between the ligands and the active amino acid residues of the receptor, indicating a promising candidate as a COVID-19 inhibitor. Pro Tox -II server showed that compound 7 has a similar feature to the approved antiviral drug remdesivir for COVID-19. Additionally, a fascinating molecular modeling investigation showed that our nucleoside demonstrated good binding inhibition of AChE enzyme towards advancing an efficient medication against Alzheimer's disease. Finally, DFT has been conducted to illustrate the MD results in terms of the molecular descriptor-based structural activity relationship calculated from FMOs.

Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation of novel quinozalinone derivatives with substituted benzimidazole in position 3

Quinazolinone and benzimidazole are both fused heterocyclic compounds which have shown valuable biological properties including cytotoxic, antibacterial, and antifungal activities. In this study, a series of novel quinazolinone derivatives substituted with benzimidazole were synthesized in two parts. In the first part 2 - phenyl - 1H - benzimidazol - 6 - amine (4) was synthesized from the reaction of 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine and benzoic acid. In the second part, new 3-(2-phenyl-1H benzoimidazol-5-yl)- 3H-quinazolin-4-one derivatives (8a-8f) were also prepared. Finally compound 4 was reacted with the different benzoxazinone derivatives (8a-8f) to give the target compounds. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by IR and ¹HNMR. Cytotoxic activities of the final compounds were assessed at 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 μM against MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines using the MTT colorimetric assay. Almost all compounds exhibited good cytotoxic activity against both cell lines. Compound 9d demonstrated the highest cytotoxic activity against MCF7 and Hela cell lines with IC₅₀ 70 μM and 50 μM, respectively.

Synthesis and antiproliferative assay of triazolyl-2,2-dimethyl-3-phenylpropanoates as potential HDAC inhibitors

Recently, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition has gained great importance in cancer treatment.