The design, synthesis and cellular imaging of a tumor-anchored, potent and cell-permeable BRD4-targeted fluorescent ligands

Activatable fluorescence molecular imaging and anti-tumor effects investigation of GSH-sensitive BRD4 ligands

Overexpression of bromodomain 4 (BRD4) is closely correlated with a variety of human cancers by regulating the histone post-translational modifications, which renders BRD4 a promising target for pharmacological discoveries of novel therapeutic agents for cancer therapy. We herein present the design, chemical synthesis, cellular imaging and biological assessment of a novel tumor-sensitive BRD4 ligand (compound 4) by introducing anticancer BRD4 inhibitor into naphthalimide moiety (fluorescent reporter) via a sulfonamide unit as glutathione (GSH)-specific cleavable linker. Upon reaction with abundant intramolecular GSH in cancer cells or free GSH in aqueous solution (pH = 7.4), sulfonamide cleavage of 4 occurs, leading to the release of BRD4 inhibitor and concomitant fluorescence-on. This activatable fluorescence molecular imaging was demonstrated to preferentially occur in tumor cells. Moreover, towards cancer cell lines MGC-803 cells and THP-1, compound 4 was identified to show better antitumor efficacy than net BRD4 inhibitor. Collectively, this study presents a drug delivery strategy, wherein the drug release can be directly monitored in the cellular content by fluorescence imaging, and provides a valuable compound 4 as a potential antitumor agent. Compound 4 may represent a useful tool for explorative studies of BRD4 inhibition, such as an improved understanding of BRD4 inhibitor release-related information.