Development of Tetrahydroisoquinoline-Based Hydroxamic Acid Derivatives: Potent Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors with Marked in Vitro and in Vivo Antitumor Activities

Design, synthesis, and preliminary bioactivity studies of substituted purine hydroxamic acid derivatives as novel histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) is a clinically validated target for anti-tumor therapy. In order to increase HDAC inhibition and efficiency, we developed a series of novel substituted purine hydroxamic acids as potent HDAC inhibitors.

Design, synthesis and preliminary evaluation of α-sulfonyl γ-(glycinyl-amino)proline peptidomimetics as matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors

A series of novel α-sulfonyl γ-(glycinyl-amino)proline peptidomimetic derivatives were designed, synthesized and assayed for their activities against matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), aminopeptidase N (APN)/CD13 and HDACs. The results indicated that all the compounds exhibited highly selective inhibition against MMP-2 as compared with APN and HDACs. The antiproliferative activities of some compounds against SKOV3, HL60 and A549 cells were also investigated. Comparing with the control LY52, compound 12u, with excellent activity both in the enzymatic inhibition assay and cell-based assay, could be used as lead compound for the further development of MMP inhibitors.

Design and synthesis of a tetrahydroisoquinoline-based hydroxamate derivative (ZYJ-34v), an oral active histone deacetylase inhibitor with potent antitumor activity

In our previous study, we developed a novel series of tetrahydroisoquinoline-based hydroxamic acid derivatives as histone deacetylase inhibitors (Bioorg Med Chem, 2010, 18, 1761-1772; J Med Chem, 2011, 54, 2823-2838), among which, compound ZYJ-34c (1) was identified and validated as the most potent one with marked in vitro and in vivo antitumor potency (J Med Chem, 2011, 54, 5532-5539.). Herein, further modification in 1 afforded another oral active analog ZYJ-34v (2) with simplified structure and lower molecular weight. Biological evaluation of compound 2 showed efficacious inhibition against histone deacetylase 1, 2, 3, and 6, which was confirmed by Western blot analysis results. Most importantly, compound 2 exhibited similar even more potent in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities relative to the approved histone deacetylase inhibitor SAHA.

Biological activity, design, synthesis and structure activity relationship of some novel derivatives of curcumin containing sulfonamides

Five series of curcumin derivatives with sulfonamides 3a-3e, 4a-4e, 5a-5e, 6a-6e and 7a-7e have been synthesized and evaluated for in vitro antibacterial activity against selected medically important gram-(+) and gram-(-) bacterial species viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli, and antifungal activity against few pathogenic fungal species viz. Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Trichoderma viride and Curvularia lunata. The cytotoxicity has been determined by measuring IC50 values against human cell lines HeLa, Hep G-2, QG-56 and HCT-116. Among the compounds screened, 3a-3e showed the most potent biological activity against tested bacteria and fungi. Compounds 3a-3e displayed higher cytotoxicity than curcumin. The curcumin derivatives were also evaluated for in vivo anti-inflammatory activity. In contrast, the compounds 6a-6e and 7a-7e showed dramatically decrease in biological activity.

Discovery of a Pair of Diastereomers as Potent HDACs Inhibitors: Determination of Absolute Configuration, Biological Activity Comparison and Computational Study

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are still the focus of epigenetic modulator development due to their effective intervention in many pathological processes. In our previous research, a potent HDACi was designed, synthesized and validated as a promising antitumor candidate named ZYJ-34c. Enlarged scale synthesis of ZYJ-34c for further detailed research was hindered by the occurrence of a by-product, which was identified as an isomer of ZYJ-34c by HRMS and ¹H NMR. Subsequent synthesis route modification and optimization revealed that these two isomers were a pair of epimers and their absolute configurations could be directly determined by our optimized synthesis routes, through which each optically pure epimer could be stereoselectively synthesized, respectively. Based on these results, we concluded that our previously reported absolute configuration of ZYJ-34c was incorrect. It is worth noting that the epimer of ZYJ-34c exhibited more potent HDACs inhibition and both in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities, and moreover, their different HDACs inhibitory activities could be rationalized by computational simulations of their binding modes in HDAC2.