Facile construction of fused benzimidazole-isoquinolinones that induce cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent, malignant gastrointestinal tumors, and strategies and effectiveness of current therapy are limited. A series of benzimidazole-isoquinolinone derivatives (BIDs) was synthesized and screened to identify novel scaffolds for CRC. Of the compounds evaluated, 7g exhibited the most promising anti-cancer properties. Employing two CRC cell lines, SW620 and HT29, 7g was found to suppress growth and proliferation of the cell lines at a concentration of ∼20 µM. Treatment followed an increase in G₂/M cell cycle arrest, which was attributed to cyclin B1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) signaling deficiencies with simultaneous enhancement in p21 and p53 activity. In addition, mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis was induced in CRC cells. Interestingly, 7g decreased phosphorylated AKT, mTOR and 4E-BP1 levels, while promoting the expression/stability of PTEN. Since PTEN controls input into the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, antiproliferative effects can be attributed to PTEN-mediated tumor suppression. Collectively, these results suggest that BIDs exert antitumor activity in CRC by impairing PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling. Against a small kinase panel, 7g exhibited low affinity at 5 µM suggesting anticancer properties likely stem through a non-kinase mechanism. Because of the novelty of BIDs, the structure can serve as a lead scaffold to design new CRC therapies.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of isoindoloisoquinolinone, pyroloisoquinolinone and benzoquinazolinone derivatives as poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 inhibitors

A series of novel fused isoquinolinones with isoindoloisoquinolinone, pyroloisoquinolinone, and benzoquinalizinone skeletons were synthesized from corresponding phenethylimides. The isoquinolinone derivatives were evaluated for their protective effect on chicken erythrocytes subjected to oxidative damage. The effect of isoquinolinone derivatives were analysed by estimation of cell viability, antioxidant enzyme activities, DNA damage (comet assay), PARP-1 inhibition assay and molecular docking of the compounds with PARP-1 active site. The compounds CRR-271, CRR-288 and CRR-224+225 showed significant protective effect at 100 μM concentration. The PARP-1 inhibition assay revealed the IC50 values of CRR-271, CRR-288 and CRR-224+225 as <200 nM, further molecular docking studies shows higher binding energies with PARP-1 active site. Interesting findings in this study suggest that the novel isoquinolinone derivatives inhibit PARP-1 activity and protect cells against oxidative DNA damage, which could be implemented in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.