Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of naftopidil-based arylpiperazine derivatives containing the bromophenol moiety

Comprehensive Review on Recent Strategies for Management of Prostate Cancer: Therapeutic Targets and SAR

Prostate cancer is a disease that is affecting a large population worldwide. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has become a foundation for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, as used in most clinical settings from neo-adjuvant to metastatic stage. In spite of the success of ADT in managing the disease in the majority of men, hormonal manipulation fails eventually. New molecules are developed for patients with various hormone-refractory diseases. Advancements in molecular oncology have increased understanding of numerous cellular mechanisms which control cell death in the prostate and these insights can lead to the development of more efficacious and tolerable therapies for carcinoma of the prostate. This review is focused on numerous therapies that might be a boon for prostate therapy like signaling inhibitors, vaccines, and inhibitors of androgen receptors. Along with these, various bioactive molecules and their derivatives are highlighted, which act as potential antiprostate cancer agents. This article also emphasized the recent advances in the field of medicinal chemistry of prostate cancer agents.

The Structural Determinants for α1-Adrenergic/Serotonin Receptors Activity among Phenylpiperazine-Hydantoin Derivatives

Several studies confirmed the reciprocal interactions between adrenergic and serotoninergic systems and the influence of these phenomena on the pathogenesis of anxiety. Hence, searching for chemical agents with a multifunctional pharmacodynamic profile may bring highly effective therapy for CNS disorders. This study presents a deep structural insight into the hydantoin-arylpiperazine group and their serotonin/α-adrenergic activity. The newly synthesized compounds were tested in the radioligand binding assay and the intrinsic activity was evaluated for the selected derivatives. The computer-aided SAR analysis enabled us to answer questions about the influence of particular structural fragments on selective vs. multifunctional activity. As a result of the performed investigations, there were two leading structures: (a) compound 12 with multifunctional adrenergic-serotonin activity, which is a promising candidate to be an effective anxiolytic agent; (b) compound 14 with high α_1A/α_1D affinity and selectivity towards α_1B, which is recommended due to the elimination of probable cardiotoxic effect. The structural conclusions of this work provide significant support for future lead optimization in order to achieve the desired pharmacodynamic profile in searching for new CNS-modulating agents.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 7H-benzo [c] [1, 3] dioxolo [4, 5-f] chromen-7-one derivatives with potential anti-tumor activity

In this study, a series of novel 7H-benzo [c] [1,3] dioxolo [4, 5-f] chromen-7-one derivatives were obtained by structural modification of the lead compounds with Fissitungfine B. A total 15 compounds were designed, synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of tumor. These target compounds have the novel chemical structures that named three six-membered rings including one lactone six-membered ring. In vitro assay, the results showed that the target compounds have a broad spectrum and strong of anti-tumor activity. Such as the target compound 4n to MCF-7 was IC₅₀ = 0.35 ± 0.01 μM, to A-549 was IC₅₀ = 0.37 ± 0.01 μM, to Hela was IC₅₀ = 0.56 ± 0.02 μM, to MDC-803 was IC₅₀ = 0.53 ± 0.02 μM and COLO-205 was IC₅₀ = 0.50 ± 0.02 μM in vitro. At the same time, in vivo anti-tumor activity assay results showed that the target compounds had a good inhibitory effect on tumor growth. Among them, the target compound 4n had the best anti-tumor activity, it could inhibit tumor growth well at a low dose. The target compound 4n could be used as a candidate drug for further research and development, in order to be used as early as application in the clinical treatment of tumors.

Drug Repositioning of the α1-Adrenergic Receptor Antagonist Naftopidil: A Potential New Anti-Cancer Drug?

Failure of conventional treatments is often observed in cancer management and this requires the development of alternative therapeutic strategies. However, new drug development is known to be a high-failure process because of the possibility of a lower efficacy than expected for the drug or appearance of non-manageable side effects. Another way to find alternative therapeutic drugs consists in identifying new applications for drugs already approved for a particular disease: a concept named "drug repurposing". In this context, several studies demonstrated the potential anti-tumour activity exerted by α1-adrenergic receptor antagonists and notably renewed interest for naftopidil as an anti-cancer drug. Naftopidil is used for benign prostatic hyperplasia management in Japan and a retrospective study brought out a reduced incidence of prostate cancer in patients that had been prescribed this drug. Further studies showed that naftopidil exerted anti-proliferative and cytotoxic effects on prostate cancer as well as several other cancer types in vitro, as well as ex vivo and in vivo. Moreover, naftopidil was demonstrated to modulate the expression of Bcl-2 family pro-apoptotic members which could be used to sensitise cancer cells to targeting therapies and to overcome resistance of cancer cells to apoptosis. For most of these anti-cancer effects, the molecular pathway is either not fully deciphered or shown to involve α1-adrenergic receptor-independent pathway, suggesting off target transduction signals. In order to improve its efficacy, naftopidil analogues were designed and shown to be effective in several studies. Thereby, naftopidil appears to display anti-cancer properties on different cancer types and could be considered as a candidate for drug repurposing although its anti-cancerous activities need to be studied more deeply in prospective randomized clinical trials.