Design, synthesis, molecular modeling and anti-breast cancer activity of novel quinazolin-4-one derivatives linked to thiazolidinone, oxadiazole or pyrazole moieties

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.

An Insight on the Prospect of Quinazoline and Quinazolinone Derivatives as Anti-tubercular Agents

Multiple potential drugs have been developed based on the heterocyclic molecules for the treatment of different symptoms. Among the existing heterocyclic molecules, quinazoline and quinazolinone derivatives have been found to exhibit extensive pharmacological and biological characteristics. One significant property of these molecules is their potency as anti-tubercular agents. Thus, both quinazoline and quinazolinone derivatives are modified using different functional groups as substituents for investigating their anti-tubercular activities. We present a summary of the reported anti-tubercular drugs, designed using quinazoline and quinazolinone derivatives, in this review.

Recent Advancements in the Development of Anti-Breast Cancer Synthetic Small Molecules

Among all cancer types, breast cancer (BC) still stands as one of the most serious diseases responsible for a large number of cancer-associated deaths among women worldwide, and diagnosed cases are increasing year by year worldwide. For a very long time, hormonal therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy were used for breast cancer treatment. However, these treatment approaches are becoming progressively futile because of multidrug resistance and serious side effects. Consequently, there is a pressing demand to develop more efficient and safer agents that can fight breast cancer belligerence and inhibit cancer cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis. Currently, there is an avalanche of newly designed and synthesized molecular entities targeting multiple types of breast cancer. This review highlights several important synthesized compounds with promising anti-BC activity that are categorized according to their chemical structures.

Role of 4-Thiazolidinone Scaffold in Targeting Variable Biomarkers and Pathways Involving Cancer

BACKGROUND

Cancer can be considered as a genetic as well as a metabolic disorder. Current cancer treatment scenario looks like aggravating tumor cell metabolism, causing the disease to progress even with greater intensity. The cancer therapy is restricted to limitations of poor patient compliance due to toxicities to normal tissues and multi-drug resistance development. There is an emerging need for cancer therapy to be more focused on the better understanding of genetic, epigenetic and transcriptional changes resulting in cancer progression and their relationship with treatment sensitivity.

OBJECTIVE

The 4-thiazolidinone nucleus possesses marked anticancer potential towards different biotargets, thus targeting different cancer types like breast, prostate, lung, colorectal and colon cancers, renal cell adenocarcinomas and gliomas. Therefore, conjugating the 4-thiazolidinone scaffold with other promising moieties or by directing the therapy towards targeted drug delivery systems like the use of nanocarrier systems, can provide the gateway for optimizing the anticancer efficiency and minimizing the adverse effects and drug resistance development, thus providing stimulus for personalized pharmacotherapy.

METHODS

An exhaustive literature survey has been carried out to give an insight into the anticancer potential of the 4-thiazolidinone nucleus either alone or in conjugation with other active moieties, with the mechanisms involved in preventing proliferation and metastasis of cancer covering a vast range of publications of repute.

CONCLUSION

This review aims to summarise the work reported on anticancer activity of 4-thiazolidinone derivatives covering various cancer biomarkers and pathways involved, citing the data from 2005 till now, which may be beneficial to the researchers for future development of more efficient 4-thiazolidinone derivatives.

Pyrimidine: a review on anticancer activity with key emphasis on SAR

Background

Cancer is a global health challenge, it impacts the quality of life and its treatment is associated with several side effects. Resistance of the cancer cells to the existing drugs has led to search for novel anticancer agents. Pyrimidine, a privileged scaffold, is part of living organisms and plays vital role in various biological procedures as well as in cancer pathogenesis. Due to resemblance in structure with the nucleotide base pair of DNA and RNA, it is recognized as valuable compound in the treatment of cancer.

Main text

Many novel pyrimidine derivatives have been designed and developed for their anticancer activity in the last few years. The present review aims to focus on the structure activity relationship (SAR) of pyrimidine derivatives as anticancer agent from the last decade.

Conclusion

This review intends to assist in the development of more potent and efficacious anticancer drugs with pyrimidine scaffold.

Graphical abstract

Fused and Substituted Pyrimidine Derivatives as Profound Anti-Cancer Agents

The rationale behind drug design is the strategic utilization of heterocyclic fragments with specific physicochemical properties to form molecular targeted agents. Among the heterocyclic molecules, pyrimidine has proved to be a privileged pharmacophore for various biological cancer targets. The anti-cancer potential of small molecules with fused and substituted pyrimidines can be enhanced through bioisosteric replacements and altering their ADME parameters. Although several small molecules are used in cancer chemotherapy, oncology therapeutics has various limitations, especially in their routes of administration and their concurrent side effects. Such pernicious effects may be overcome, via selective biological targeting. In this review, the biological targets, to inhibit cancer, have been discussed. The structural activity relationship of fused and substituted pyrimidines was studied. Eco-friendly synthetic approaches for pyrimidine derivatives have also been discussed. This review will give an insight to scientists and researchers of medicinal chemistry discipline to design small molecules having a pyrimidine scaffold with high anti-cancer potential.

Development of Novel Rhodanine Analogs as Anticancer Agents: Design, Synthesis, Evaluation and CoMSIA Study

BACKGROUND

A series of novel 5-substituted benzylidene rhodanine derivatives using four different amines were designed based on our previously developed CoMSIA (Comparative molecular similarity indices analysis) model for the anticancer activity.

METHODS

The designed rhodanines were synthesized via dithiocarbamate formation, cyclization and Knoevenagel condensation. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed and analyzed by spectral studies.

RESULTS

The synthesized rhodanines were investigated for in vitro anticancer activities and the analogs have displayed mild to significant cytotoxicity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The compounds with benzyloxy substitution at the fifth position of rhodanine ring (Compounds 20, 33 and 38) system showed significant cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cells. CoMSIA, a three-dimensional quantitative structureactivity relationship (3D-QSAR) technique was accomplished to elucidate structure-activity relationships.

CONCLUSION

Based on the information derived from CoMSIA contour plots, some key features for increasing the activity of compounds have been identified and used to design new anti-cancer agents. The present developed CoMSIA model displayed good external predictability, r2pred of 0.841 and good statistical robustness.

Current research on anti-breast cancer synthetic compounds

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer for females and its incidence tends to increase year by year.