Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel thiophene and theinopyrimidine derivatives as anticancer agents

Characterization of novel heterocyclic compounds based on 4-aryl-4H-chromene scaffold as anticancer agents: Design, synthesis, antiprofilerative activity against resistant cancer cells, dual β-tubulin/c-Src inhibition, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction

In this study, three novel sets of 4-aryl-4H-chromene derivatives 4a-c, 6a-d and 7a-c were synthesized and evaluated for anticancer activity. Characterization of new compounds was established on basis of elemental analyses and spectral data. All new compounds were investigated for their antiproliferative activity against HCT-116, HepG-2 and MCF-7 cell lines using vinblastine and staurosporine as positive controls. Compounds 4b, 4c and 6d showed superior cytotoxicity against HCT-116, HepG-2 and MCF-7 cell lines, respectively with IC₅₀ ranged from 3.31 to 4.95 μM. Additionally, compound 4b showed excellent cytotoxic activity (IC₅₀ = 39.83 μM) against resistant HCT-116 better than doxorubicin (IC₅₀ = 164.60 μM), while compounds 4c and 6d exhibited moderate cytotoxic activity against resistant HepG-2 and resistant MCF-7 cell lines. The most potent compounds inhibited both β-tubulin polymerization (IC₅₀ = 8.78 - 16.47 μM) and c-Src kinase (IC₅₀ = 0.07 - 0.18 μM) enzymes. Compounds 4b, 4c and 6d activated caspase-3, caspase-7, and caspase-9 proteins relative to untreated cells, revealing apoptosis induction. Apoptosis was also confirmed through up-regulation of Bax and down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein expression levels. Cell cycle analysis of compound 6d showed accumulation of cells in pre-G1 phase and cell cycle arrest at S phase in MCF-7 treated cells. As well 6d caused 7- and 63- fold increase in apoptotic cell population at early and late apoptosis stages. Finally, molecular modeling study was performed to predict the binding pattern of the target compounds inside c-Src kinase receptor.

A Review on Anticancer Activities of Thiophene and Its Analogs

Cancer is the world's second-largest cause of mortality and one of the biggest global health concerns. The prevalence and mortality rates of cancer remain high despite significant progress in cancer therapy. The search for more effective, as well as less toxic treatment methods for cancer, is at the focus of current studies. Thiophene and its derivatives have surged as an influential scaffold, which, because of their appreciable diversity in biological activities, has drawn the concerned interest of the researchers in the field of medicinal chemistry. By the affluent introduction of its derivatives, which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer activities, the adaptability of the thiophene moiety has been displayed. The nature and positioning of the substitutions significantly impacted thiophene moiety activity. This decent array in the living response account about this moiety has picked plentiful researcher's consideration to inquire about it to its peculiar potential across certain activities. In the field of cancer therapy against different cancer cells, the structure-activity relationship for each of the derivatives showed an excellent understanding of thiophene moiety. Information from the various articles revealed the key role of thiophene moiety and its derivatives to develop the vital lead compound. The essential anticancer mechanisms identified include inhibition of the topoisomerase, inhibition of tyrosine kinase, tubulin interaction and apoptosis induction through the activation of reactive oxygen species. This review is an endeavor to promote the anticancer potential of the derivatives, whether having thiophene or condensed thiophene as a core moiety or as a substituent that can lead in the future to synthesize varieties of chemotherapeutic entities in the field of cancer treatment.

Novel thienopyrimidine analogues as potential metabotropic glutamate receptors inhibitors and anticancer activity: Synthesis, In-vitro, In-silico, and SAR approaches

There is a continuous need in drug development approach for synthetic anticancer analogues with new therapeutic targets to diminish chemotherapeutic resistance of cancer cells. This study presents new group of synthetic thienopyrimidine analogues (1-9) aims as mGluR-1 inhibitors with anticancer activity. In-vitro antiproliferative assessment was carried out using viability assay against cancer cell lines (MCF-7, A-549 and PC-3) compared to WI-38 normal cell line. Analogues showed variable anticancer activity with IC₅₀ ranging from 6.60 to 121 µg/mL with compound 7b is the most potent analogue against the three cancer cell lines (MCF-7; 6.57 ± 0.200, A-549; 6.31 ± 0.400, PC-3;7.39 ± 0.500 µg/mL) compared to Doxorubicin, 5-Flurouracil and Riluzole controls. Selected compounds were tested as mGluR-1 inhibitors in MCF-7 cell line and results revealed compound 7b induced significant reduction in extracellular glutamate release (IC₅₀; 4.96 ± 0.700 µM) compared to other analogues and next to Riluzole (IC₅₀; 2.80 ± 0.500 µM) of the same suggested mode of action. Furthermore, both cell cycle and apoptosis assays confirmed the potency of compound 7b for early apoptosis of MCF-7 at G₂/M phase and apoptotic positive cell shift to (91.4%) compared to untreated control (19.6%) and Raptinal positive control (51.4%). On gene expression level, compound 7b induced over-expression of extrinsic (FasL, TNF-α and Casp-8), intrinsic (Cyt-C, Casp-3, Bax) apoptotic genes with down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 gene with boosted Bax/Bcl-2 ratio to 2.6-fold increase. Molecular docking and dynamic studies confirmed the biological potency through strong binding and stability modes of 7b where it was faster in reaching the equilibrium point and achieving the stability than Riluzole over 20 ns MD. These results suggest compound 7b as a promising mGluR inhibitory scaffold with anticancer activity that deserves further optimization and in-depth In-vivo and clinical investigations.

A novel three-component reaction between isocyanides, alcohols or thiols and elemental sulfur: a mild, catalyst-free approach towards O-thiocarbamates and dithiocarbamates

A new multicomponent reaction has been developed between isocyanides, sulfur and alcohols or thiols under mild reaction conditions to afford O-thiocarbamates and dithiocarbamates in moderate to good yields. The one-pot reaction cascade involves the formation of an isothiocyanate intermediate, thus a catalyst-free synthesis of isothiocyanates, as valuable building blocks from isocyanides and sulfur is proposed, as well. The synthetic procedure suits the demand of a modern organic chemist, as it tolerates a wide range of functional groups, it is atom economic and easily scalable.