Design, synthesis and evaluation of naphthalene-2-carboxamides as reversal agents in MDR cancer

Synthesis of 5-hydroxyisatin thiosemicarbazones, spectroscopic investigation, protein-ligand docking, and in vitro anticancer activity

A series of novel modifications were performed at the N(4) position of 5-hydroxyisatin thiosemicarbazone (TSC). The structure-activity approach is applied to design and synthesize derivatives by condensing thiosemicarbazides with 5-hydroxy isatin. The TSCs were characterized by various spectroscopic techniques viz. FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, UV-Vis, HRMS data, CHN elemental analysis, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Biological evaluation of the synthesized compounds revealed the anticancer potency of the TSC analogues against breast cancer (MD-AMD-231, MCF-7), lung cancer (A549, NCI-H460), prostate cancer (PC3), and skin cancer (A431). The molecules, L2, L3, and L6 showed activity in the micromolar range (IC50; 0.19-2.19 μM). L6 exhibited the highest potency against skin cancer A431 cell line, with an IC50 of 0.19 μM compared to 1.8 μM with triapine and showed low toxicity against PNT-2 cells with an SI index of >100 μM. The mechanistic study revealed that L6 inhibited cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, and 3-dimensional spheroid formation by targeting the Ras/MAPK axis. It induced DNA damage and impaired DNA damage repair machinery, which led to the accumulation of DSB. Also, it lowered the ERK1/2 expression, which affected the caspase 3 activity and showed higher binding affinity compared to the FDA-approved drug Lenalidomide in molecular docking studies. Our findings demonstrated the possible future anticancer drug potency of L6 in the skin cancer A431 cells.

Multi-functionalization of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets for tumor theragnosis: Synthesis, characterization, enzyme assay, in-silico study, radiolabeling and in vivo targeting evaluation

BACKGROUND

In this study, a combination of nanotechnology, organic synthesis and radiochemistry were utilized in order to design an efficient nano-system conjugated with a suitable radionuclide and an antitumor agent for possible application as tumor theragnostic agent.

METHOD

Four novel compounds (3 and 4a-c) bearing tetrahydroquinazoline-7-sulfonohydrazide or 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinazoline-7-sulfonamide scaffold were designed. Then, docking study predicted that the compounds can be considered as potential inhibitors for PARP-1. Following that; the four compounds were synthesized and properly characterized using 1HNMR, 13CNMR, IR and Mass spectroscopy. The cytotoxic effect of the four compounds was evaluated against breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-436), where compound 3 showed the most promising cytotoxic effect. The inhibitory effect of the four compounds was evaluated in vitro against PARP-1.

RESULT

Carboxylated graphene oxide nanosheets (NGO-COOH) were synthesized by a modified Hummer's method and has size of range 40 nm. The NGO-COOH nanosheets were proven to be safe and biocompatible when tested in vitro against normal human lung fibroblast cells (MRC-5). The prepared NGO-COOH nanosheets were conjugated with compound 3 then radiolabeled with 99mTc to yield 99mTc-NGO-COOH-3 with a radiochemical yield of 98.5.0 ± 0.5%. 99mTc-NGO-COOH-3 was injected intravenously in solid tumor bearing mice to study the degree of localization of the nano-system at tumor tissue. The results of the study revealed, excellent localization and retention of the designed nano-system at tumor tissues with targeting ratio of 9.0.

CONCLUSION

Stirred a new candidate tumor theragnostic agent that is safe, selective and stable.

Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Benzohydrazide Derivatives Containing Dihydropyrazoles as Potential EGFR Kinase Inhibitors

A series of novel benzohydrazide derivatives containing dihydropyrazoles have been synthesized as potential epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase inhibitors and their biological activities as potential antiproliferative agents have been evaluated. Among these compounds, compound H20 exhibited the most potent antiproliferative activity against four cancer cell line variants (A549, MCF-7, HeLa, HepG2) with IC₅₀ values of 0.46, 0.29, 0.15 and 0.21 μM respectively, which showed the most potent EGFR inhibition activities (IC₅₀ = 0.08 μM for EGFR). Molecular modeling simulation studies were performed in order to predict the biological activity and activity relationship (SAR) of these benzohydrazide derivatives. These results suggested that compound H20 may be a promising anticancer agent.

Design and evaluation of novel oxadiazole derivatives as potential prostate cancer agents

Various 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives have been synthesized and their antiproliferative properties have been studied. The in vitro screening was performed against androgen dependent (LNCaP) and androgen independent (PC-3) prostate cancer cell lines. Most of the compounds showed promising activity. Among them, compounds 2d (IC50=0.22 and 1.3μM) and 2a (IC50=8.34 and 2,5μM) have shown significant activities on PC-3 and LNCaP cell lines respectively. To investigate the mechanism of cell death we performed cell apoptosis staining and cell cycle arrest assay on more sensitive PC-3 cell lines on 2d. The results demonstrated that 2d induced apoptosis and shifted the cells to the sub G0/G1 and S phase. Our study evidently identified the potency of compound 2d as potential anti-prostate cancer agent.

Synthesis and evaluation of naphthalene-based thiosemicarbazone derivatives as new anticancer agents against LNCaP prostate cancer cells

Fourteen new naphthalene-based thiosemicarbazone derivatives were designed as anticancer agents against LNCaP human prostate cancer cells and synthesized. MTT assay indicated that compounds 6, 8 and 11 exhibited inhibitory effect on LNCaP cells. Among these compounds, 4-(naphthalen-1-yl)-1-[1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethylidene)thiosemicarbazide (6), which caused more than 50% death on LNCaP cells, was chosen for flow cytometric analysis of apoptosis. Flow cytometric analysis pointed out that compound 6 also showed apoptotic effect on LNCaP cells. Compound 6 can be considered as a promising anticancer agent against LNCaP cells owing to its potent cytotoxic activity and apoptotic effect.

Software and resources for computational medicinal chemistry

Computer-aided drug design plays a vital role in drug discovery and development and has become an indispensable tool in the pharmaceutical industry. Computational medicinal chemists can take advantage of all kinds of software and resources in the computer-aided drug design field for the purposes of discovering and optimizing biologically active compounds. This article reviews software and other resources related to computer-aided drug design approaches, putting particular emphasis on structure-based drug design, ligand-based drug design, chemical databases and chemoinformatics tools.

Synthesis, structure analysis and cytotoxicity studies of novel unsymmetrically n,n'-substituted ureas from dehydroabietic Acid

A series of novel unsymmetrically N,N'-substituted ureas were synthesized from dehydroabietic acid and their structures were characterized by IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Three six-membered rings of urea 4c exhibited plane, half-chair and chair configurations, respectively. Their cytotoxicity activities against SMMC7721 liver cancer cells were evaluated by MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) method. The results showed that the title compounds exhibited highly effective cytotoxicity activities against SMMC7721 cells. Their IC50 values are between 8.8 and 14.2 micromol/l. The change of N' substituted groups resulted little difference to the cytotoxicity activities of ureas, which indicated that the cytotoxicity of this kind of ureas depend strongly on the tricyclic hydrophenanthrene structure.

Synthesis and evaluation of novel N-substituted-6-methoxynaphthalene-2-carboxamides as potential chemosensitizing agents for cancer

A novel class of molecules with structure N-[3-(heteroaryl)propyl]-6-methoxynaphthalene-2-carboxamides 8-13 were synthesized by condensing 6-methoxy-2-naphthoyl chloride 1 with 3-(heteroaryl)propyl amines 2-7. Compounds 8-12 were evaluated in vitro, in P388 murine lymphocytic leukemia cell line (P388) using SRB assay for cytotoxicity and in adriamycin resistant P388 murine lymphocytic leukemia cell line (P388/ADR) using MTT assay for resistant reversal activity. Compounds 8-12 were non-toxic at lower dose of 20 microg/ml, and effectively reversed adriamycin resistance. However, at higher doses (40, 80 microg/ml) they showed significant cytotxicity and hence reversal potency was not determined at these concentrations.