Discovery of indolinone-bearing benzenesulfonamides as new dual carbonic anhydrase and VEGFR-2 inhibitors possessing anticancer and pro-apoptotic properties

In the current medical era, the utilization of a single small molecule to simultaneously target two distinct molecular targets is emerging as a highly effective strategy in the battle against cancer. Carbonic Anhydrase (CA) and Vascular-Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) are genes that are activated in response to low oxygen levels (hypoxia) and play a role in the development and progression of tumors in hypoxic conditions. Herein we report the design, synthesis, and biological assessment of a series of novel indolinone-based benzenesulfonamides (8a-k, 11a-d, 15a-d, and 16) as potential dual inhibitors for cancer-associated hCA IX/XII and VEGFR-2. All the synthesized sulfonamides were assessed for their inhibitory effect against four CA isoforms I, II, IX, and XII where they displayed varying degrees of hCA inhibition. The most effective and selective hCA IX and XII inhibitors 8g, 8j and 15b were chosen to be tested for their in vitro inhibitory impact against VEGFR-2 as well as their antiproliferative impact against VEGFR-2 overexpressing MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Furthermore, molecular docking studies were conducted within the hCA IX, XII, and VEGFR-2 active sites to explain the observed inhibitory results.

Synthesis, crystallographic, DNA binding, and molecular docking/dynamic studies of a privileged chalcone-sulfonamide hybrid scaffold as a promising anticancer agent

In the present study, a drug-like molecular hybrid structure between chalcone and sulfonamide moieties was synthesized and characterized. The structural peculiarities of the synthesized hybrid were further verified by means of single crystal X-ray crystallography. Furthermore, its biological activity as an anticancer agent was evaluated. The synthesized model of chalcone-sulfonamide hybrid 3 was found to have potent anticancer properties against the studied cancer cell lines. Hence, the in vitro binding interaction of hybrid 3 with Calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) was studied at a simulated physiological pH to confirm its anticancer activity for the first time. This was investigated by applying different spectroscopic techniques, ionic strength measurements, viscosity measurements, thermodynamics, molecular dynamic simulation and molecular docking studies. The obtained results showed a clear binding interaction between hybrid 3 and CT-DNA with a moderate affinity via a minor groove binding mechanism. The binding constant (Kb) at 298 K calculated from the Benesi-Hildebrand equation was found to be 3.49 × 104 M-1. The entropy and enthalpy changes (ΔS0 and ΔH0) were 204.65 J mol-1 K-1 and 35.08 KJ mol-1, respectively, indicating that hydrophobic interactions constituted the major binding forces. The results obtained from molecular docking and dynamic simulation studies confirmed the minor groove binding interaction and the stability of the formed complex. This study can contribute to further understanding of the molecular mechanism of hybrid 3 as a potential antitumor agent and can also guide future clinical and pharmacological studies for rational drug design with enhanced or more selective activity and greater efficacy.[Figure: see text]Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

1,5-Diaryl-1,2,4-triazole Ureas as New SLC-0111 Analogues Endowed with Dual Carbonic Anhydrase and VEGFR-2 Inhibitory Activities

Presently, dual targeting by a single small molecule stands out as an effective cancer-fighting weapon. Carbonic anhydrase (CA) and vascular-endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are hypoxia-activatable genes that are implicated in tumorigenesis and progression of hypoxic tumors at different levels. Herein, we designed and synthesized 30 1,5-diaryl-1,2,4-triazole-tethered sulfonamides (11a-f, 12a-l, 13a-f, 15a-f) as novel SLC-0111 analogues with dual CA IX/XII and VEGFR-2 inhibitory activities. The 4-fluorophenyl SLC-0111 tail was replaced by substituted 1,5-diaryl-1,2,4-triazoles. Changing the sulfamoyl motif position provided regioisomers 11a-f and 12a-l. Elongation of the ureido linker yielded derivatives 15a-f. Inhibitory evaluations included a panel of hCAs (hCA I, II, IX, and XII) and screening against 60 cancer cell lines. Promising candidates were assessed for VEGFR-2 inhibition and selectivity and further evaluated on breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and T-47D) and the non-tumorigenic (MCF-10A) cells. Molecular docking studies explored the binding modes of the sulfonamides against hCA IX/XII and VEGFR-2 kinase.

Multi-Spectroscopic, thermodynamic and molecular dynamic simulation studies for investigation of interaction of dapagliflozin with bovine serum albumin

Dapagliflozin (DAPA) is a selective sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor that reduces renal glucose reabsorption. The drug has recently become a crucial milestone in the management of diabetes and heart failure. In this study, the interaction of DAPA with bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated for the first time using various fluorescence spectroscopic techniques, UV-absorption spectroscopy, molecular docking, and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation. The fluorescence spectroscopic titration study performed at different temperatures showed that DAPA quenched the fluorescence of BSA through a combination of dynamic and static mechanisms, which was confirmed by UV absorption, fluorescence-resonance energy transfer measurements, and MD simulation. The binding thermodynamic parameters demonstrated that the binding stoichiometry between BSA and DAPA was 1:1. Competitive binding experiments using site-specific markers as well as molecular docking studies showed that DAPA binds to site I on BSA. The positive values of enthalpy change (ΔH) and entropy change (ΔS) revealed that hydrophobic forces played a predominant role in the binding of DAPA to BSA, whereas the negative value of Gibbs free energy change (ΔG) indicated the spontaneity of the interaction. Moreover, the synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy has shown that DAPA binding to the protein molecule occurs in the vicinity of the tryptophan residue. These findings were confirmed by the molecular docking and MD simulation studies.

Virtual Screening Attributes Male Biased COVID-19 Mortality to Predicted Antiviral Activity of Female Sex Hormones

Background:

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is a newly emerged pandemic leading to a state of international alert and leaving millions of infections and thousands of deaths all over the world. Analysis of statistics and epidemiological data for the pandemic outcome pinpointed a puzzling influence of human sex on the heterogeneous outcome of COVID-19, where hospital admissions and mortality were higher among males than females. Two theories explained the observed male-biased COVID-19 mortality based on either dosage of immunoregulatory genes coded in X- chromosomes, or on the abundance of the angiotensin-converting enzyme two (ACE2) receptors in males than females.

Objective:

In our study, we propose a third scenario through virtual screening of direct antiviral effects of sex hormones.

Materials and Methods:

Updated screening statistics from 47 countries displaying sex-disaggregated data on COVID-19 were employed and visualized in the form of heatmaps depicting sex difference effects on statistics of cases and deaths. Molecular docking and binding simulations of investigated sex steroids against COVID-19 specific proteins were investigated.

Results:

Analysis of COVID-19 sex-disaggregated data confirmed that male-biased mortality and computer-aided docking found unexpected female sex hormones biased binding against key targets implicated in the life cycle of COVID-19 compared to the male sex hormone testosterone. Other investigated steroids showed promising docking scores, while the male sex hormone exhibited the lowest affinity.

Conclusion:

Female sex hormones virtually exhibit direct anti-COVID-19 effect, the proposed antiviral effect of sex hormones should be considered to explain the outcomes of mortality. Moreover, the fluctuation of sex hormones influences sex and personal derived-differential response to COVID-19 infection.

Development of Novel Quinoline-Based Sulfonamides as Selective Cancer-Associated Carbonic Anhydrase Isoform IX Inhibitors

A new series of quinoline-based benzenesulfonamides (QBS) were developed as potential carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs). The target QBS CAIs is based on the 4-anilinoquinoline scaffold where the primary sulphonamide functionality was grafted at C4 of the anilino moiety as a zinc anchoring group (QBS 13a-c); thereafter, the sulphonamide group was switched to ortho- and meta-positions to afford regioisomers 9a-d and 11a-g. Moreover, a linker elongation approach was adopted where the amino linker was replaced by a hydrazide one to afford QBS 16. All the described QBS have been synthesized and investigated for their CA inhibitory action against hCA I, II, IX and XII. In general, para-sulphonamide derivatives 13a-c displayed the best inhibitory activity against both cancer-related isoforms hCA IX (KIs = 25.8, 5.5 and 18.6 nM, respectively) and hCA XII (KIs = 9.8, 13.2 and 8.7 nM, respectively), beside the excellent hCA IX inhibitory activity exerted by meta-sulphonamide derivative 11c (KI = 8.4 nM). The most promising QBS were further evaluated for their anticancer and pro-apoptotic activities on two cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7). In addition, molecular docking simulation studies were applied to justify the acquired CA inhibitory action of the target QBS.

Development of novel benzofuran-based SLC-0111 analogs as selective cancer-associated carbonic anhydrase isoform IX inhibitors

In the present study, we describe the design of different series of benzofuran-based derivatives as potential carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs). The adopted design is based on bioisosteric replacement for the p-fluorophenyl SLC-0111 tail with the lipophilic 2-methylbenzofuran or 5-bromobenzofuran tails to furnish the 2-methylbenzofuran (MBF) sulfonamides (MBFS; 9, 11 and 13) and 5-bromobenzofuran (BBF) sulfonamides (BBFS; 27a-b, 28a-b and 29a-c), respectively. Thereafter, the urea spacer was either elongated to furnish MBFS (17 and 19), and BBFS (30) series, or replaced by a carbamate one to afford MBFS (15). All the designed compounds were synthesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activities against four human (h) CA isoforms: hCA I, II, IX and XII. MBFS (11b and 17) and BBFS (28b, 29a and 30) efficiently inhibited the tumor-related CA IX isoform in the single-digit nanomolar range (K_Is = 8.4, 7.6, 5.5, 7.1 and 1.8 nM, respectively). In particular, MBFS 11b and BBFS 28b exhibited good selectivity toward hCA IX isoform over the main off-target hCA II isoform (S.I. = 26.4 and 58.9, respectively). As a consequence, 11b and 28b were examined for their anticancer and pro-apoptotic activities toward MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines.