Synthesis and evaluation of in vitro bioactivity for polysubstituted N-arylpyrazole derivatives

Synthesis, design, and antiproliferative evaluation of 6-(N-Substituted-methyl)pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines as the potent anti-leukemia agents

Pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives, including pyrazolopyrimidines, 6-aminopyrazolopyrimidines, 6-[(formyloxy)methyl]pyrazolopyrimidines, 6-(hydroxymethyl)pyrazolopyrimidine, and 6-(aminomethyl)pyrazolopyrimidines have been successfully prepared and tested against NCI-H226, NPC-TW01, and Jurkat cancer cell lines. Among the tested pyrazolopyrimidine compounds, we found 6-aminopyrazolopyrimidines and 6-(aminomethyl)pyrazolopyrimidines with essential o-ClPh or p-ClPh substituted moieties on N-1 pyrazole ring exhibited the best IC50 inhibition activity for Jurkat cells. Furthermore, optimization of the SAR study on the C-6 position of pyrazolopyrimidine ring demonstrated that 6-(N-substituted-methyl)pyrazolopyrimidines 17b, 17d, and 19d possessed the significant IC50 inhibitory activity for the different leukemia cell lines, especially for Jurkat, K-562, and HL-60. On the other hand, further SAR inhibition and docking model studies revealed that compound 19d, which has a 3-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)propan-1-amino side-chain on the C-6 position, was able to form four hydrogen bonds with residues Ala226, Leu152, and Glu194 and specifically extended into the P1 pocket subsite with Aurora A, resulting in improved inhibitory activity almost similar to SNS-314. To explore the anti-cancer mechanism, compound 19d was measured by Western blot analysis in Jurkat T-cells, however, it showed non-responsibility to Aurora B. For the further structural modifications on the lateral chain of compound 19d, compounds 24 with longer lateral chain were designed and synthesized for testing leukemia cell lines. However, compounds 24 was significantly decrease inhibition potency against leukemia cell lines. Based on the in-vitro results, compounds 17b and 19d could be considered to be the best potential lead drug in our study for the development of new and effective therapies for leukemia treatment. On the other hand, the DHFR inhibition results indicated compound 19d possessed good inhibitory activity and better than the reported naphthalene derivative. Through further comparisons of the model superposition of three-dimensional (3D) conformations in DHFR, compound 19d presented a similar structural alignment to Methotrexate and the reported naphthalene derivative and led to similar drug-like functional relationships. As a results, compound 19d would be a potential DHFR inhibitor for anti-leukemia drug candidate.

Estrogen induces the expression of EBV lytic protein ZEBRA, a marker of poor prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Several epidemiological studies have suggested that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lytic infection is essential for the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), as elevation of antibody titers against EBV lytic proteins is a common feature of NPC. Although ZEBRA protein is a key trigger for the initiation of lytic infection, whether its expression affects the prognosis and pathogenesis of NPC remains unclear. In this study, 64 NPC biopsy specimens were analyzed using immunohistochemistry. We found that ZEBRA was significantly associated with a worsening of progression-free survival in NPC (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-11.87; P = 0.037). Moreover, ZEBRA expression positively correlated with key endocrinological proteins, estrogen receptor α, and aromatase. The transcriptional level of ZEBRA is activated by estrogen in an estrogen receptor α-dependent manner, resulting in an increase in structural gene expression levels and extracellular virus DNA copy number in NPC cell lines, reminiscent of lytic infection. Interestingly, it did not suppress cellular proliferation or increase apoptosis, in contrast to cells treated with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and sodium butyrate, indicating that viral production induced by estrogen is not a cell lytic phenomenon. Our results suggest that intratumoral estrogen overproduced by aromatase could induce ZEBRA expression and EBV reactivation, contributing to the progression of NPC.

Recent Progress on Anticancer Agents Incorporating Pyrazole Scaffold

The search of new anticancer agents is considered as a dynamic field of medicinal chemistry. In recent years, the synthesis of compounds with anticancer potential has increased and a large number of structurally varied compounds displaying potent anticancer activities have been published. Pyrazole is an important biologically active scaffold that possessed nearly all types of biological activities. The aim of this review is to collate literature work reported by researchers to provide an overview on in vivo and in vitro anticancer activities of pyrazole based derivatives among the diverse biological activities displayed by them and also presents recent efforts made on this heterocyclic moiety regarding anticancer activities. This review has been driven from the increasing number of publications, on this issue, which have been reported in the literature since the ending of the 20th century (from 1995-to date).

Synthesis and evaluation of thiazolidinone-pyrazole conjugates as anticancer and antimicrobial agents

AIM

To synthesize a series of new thiazolidinone-pyrazole hybrids (5a-o) and assess their anticancer (in vitro and in vivo) and antimicrobial activities.

RESULTS

The compounds 5h (against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells), 5e and 5i (against the human breast cancer [MDA-MB231] cell line) exhibited potent anticancer activity. All the compounds except 5g and 5e found to be less toxic for the human dermal fibroblast cells. The effective interactions of the compounds in silico with MDM2 exemplified their inhibitory potency. The derivatives also showed moderate antimicrobial activity.

CONCLUSION

The halogen atoms on various positions of the N-arylamino ring played an advantageous role in elevating the potency of the molecules. Thus, these conjugates could be used as a lead for further optimization to achieve promising therapeutics.

Surface molecularly imprinted polymers grafted on ordered mesoporous carbon nanospheres for fuel desulfurization

By adopting OMCNS as a carrier, the corresponding desulfurization adsorbent SMIP/OMCNS possesses excellent adsorption capacity and selectivity towards DBT.