Design, Synthesis and Biological Activities of New Pyrazole Derivatives Possessing Both Coxib and Combretastatins Pharmacophores

Antiproliferative and antiinflammatory coxib-combretastatin hybrids suppress cell cycle progression and induce apoptosis of MCF7 breast cancer cells

In our study, some newly synthesized aryl-substituted pyrazole derivatives mimicking cis-diphenylethylene scaffold of two apoptotic inducing agents celecoxib and combretastatin A-4 were found to have strong antiproliferative as well as antiinflammatory activities. Among these coxib-combretastatin hybrids, two lead compounds 8 and 6c simultaneously inhibited prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in LPS-activated murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and suppressed cell cycle progression of MCF7 cells at G2/M or G0/G1 phases, but only compound 8 induced apoptosis via caspase-3 activation. Both the lead compounds showed good docking energies with both protein targets COX-2 and tubulin in the molecule interaction modeling. The cis-diphenylethylene scaffold of celecoxib or combretastatin A-4 as well as functional groups such as the ethyl ester group and the sulfonamide could be considered as potential key features for the dual activity of studied compounds meanwhile the trimethoxybenzene remained the crucial characterization of the newly derived compounds of combretastatins.

Cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay of celecoxib and celecoxib derivatives

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New derivatives of celecoxib can improve beneficial effects with better safety profile.

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DNA damage in form of micronuclei has not been observed after treatment with celecoxib or any derivative.

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Further development of celecoxib derivatives for chemoprevention may be promising.

Celecoxib is used widely for the acute treatment of pain and for pain relief in various diseases. Furthermore, it shows potential in chemoprevention, although chronic treatment with celecoxib could lead to adverse effects like cardiovascular events. New derivatives of celecoxib were synthesised that may be suitable as chemopreventive agent without inducing adverse effects.

Critical endpoint for a safe use of pharmaceuticals is genotoxicity after application. A standard test for the assessment of genotoxicity is the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay, that evaluates the number micronuclei after treatment of cells with a test compound as biomarker for DNA damage. Various promising derivatives of celecoxib have been assessed with the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay in HeLa-H2B-GFP cells. It could be demonstrated, that neither celecoxib nor its derivatives were genotoxic in this assay and therefore celecoxib derivatives could be developed further for a safe use as chemopreventive agent.

More Than Resveratrol: New Insights into Stilbene-Based Compounds

The concept of a scaffold concerns many aspects at different steps on the drug development path. In medicinal chemistry, the choice of relevant "drug-likeness" scaffold is a starting point for the design of the structure dedicated to specific molecular targets. For many years, the chemical uniqueness of the stilbene structure has inspired scientists from different fields such as chemistry, biology, pharmacy, and medicine. In this review, we present the outstanding potential of the stilbene-based derivatives. Naturally occurring stilbenes, together with powerful synthetic chemistry possibilities, may offer an excellent approach for discovering new structures and identifying their therapeutic targets. With the development of scientific tools, sophisticated equipment, and a better understanding of the disease pathogenesis at the molecular level, the stilbene scaffold has moved innovation in science. This paper mainly focuses on the stilbene-based compounds beyond resveratrol, which are particularly attractive due to their biological activity. Given the "fresh outlook" about different stilbene-based compounds starting from stilbenoids with particular regard to isorhapontigenin and methoxy- and hydroxyl- analogues, the update about the combretastatins, and the very often overlooked and underestimated benzanilide analogues, we present a new story about this remarkable structure.

More Than Resveratrol: New Insights into Stilbene-Based Compounds

The concept of a scaffold concerns many aspects at different steps on the drug development path. In medicinal chemistry, the choice of relevant "drug-likeness" scaffold is a starting point for the design of the structure dedicated to specific molecular targets. For many years, the chemical uniqueness of the stilbene structure has inspired scientists from different fields such as chemistry, biology, pharmacy, and medicine. In this review, we present the outstanding potential of the stilbene-based derivatives. Naturally occurring stilbenes, together with powerful synthetic chemistry possibilities, may offer an excellent approach for discovering new structures and identifying their therapeutic targets. With the development of scientific tools, sophisticated equipment, and a better understanding of the disease pathogenesis at the molecular level, the stilbene scaffold has moved innovation in science. This paper mainly focuses on the stilbene-based compounds beyond resveratrol, which are particularly attractive due to their biological activity. Given the "fresh outlook" about different stilbene-based compounds starting from stilbenoids with particular regard to isorhapontigenin and methoxy- and hydroxyl- analogues, the update about the combretastatins, and the very often overlooked and underestimated benzanilide analogues, we present a new story about this remarkable structure.