Synthesis and in vitro characterization of platinum(II) anticancer coordinates using FTIR spectroscopy and NCI COMPARE: A fast method for new compound discovery

Anticancer activity of pyrimidodiazepines based on 2-chloro-4-anilinoquinazoline: synthesis, DNA binding and molecular docking

Multidrug resistance to chemotherapy is a critical health problem associated with mutation of the therapeutic target. Therefore, the development of anticancer agents remains a challenge to overcome cancer cell resistance. Herein, a new series of quinazoline-based pyrimidodiazepines 16a-g were synthesized by the cyclocondensation reaction of 2-chloro-4-anilinoquinazoline-chalcones 14a-g with 2,4,5,6-tetraaminopyrimidine. All quinazoline derivatives 14a-g and 16a-g were selected by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) for testing their anticancer activity against 60 cancer cell lines of different panels of human tumors. Among the tested compounds, quinazoline-chalcone 14g displayed high antiproliferative activity with GI₅₀ values between 0.622-1.81 μM against K-562 (leukemia), RPMI-8226 (leukemia), HCT-116 (colon cancer) LOX IMVI (melanoma), and MCF7 (breast cancer) cancer cell lines. Additionally, the pyrimidodiazepines 16a and 16c exhibited high cytostatic (TGI) and cytotoxic activity (LC₅₀), where 16c showed high cytotoxic activity, which was 10.0-fold higher than the standard anticancer agent adriamycin/doxorubicin against ten cancer cell lines. COMPARE analysis revealed that 16c may possess a mechanism of action through DNA binding that is similar to that of CCNU (lomustine). DNA binding studies indicated that 14g and 16c interact with the calf thymus DNA by intercalation and groove binding, respectively. Compounds 14g, 16c and 16a displayed strong binding affinities to DNA, EGFR and VEGFR-2 receptors. None of the active compounds showed cytotoxicity against human red blood cells.

Research progress in modern structure of platinum complexes

Since the antitumor activity of cisplatin was discovered in 1967 by Rosenberg, platinum-based anticancer drugs have played an important role in chemotherapy in clinic. Nevertheless, platinum anticancer drugs also have caused severe side effects and cross drug resistance which limited their applications. Therefore, a significant amount of efforts have been devoted to developing new platinum-based anticancer agents with equal or higher antitumor activity but lower toxicity. Until now, a large number of platinum-based complexes have been prepared and extensively investigated in vitro and in vivo. Among them, some platinum-based complexes revealing excellent anticancer activity showed the potential to be developed as novel type of anticancer agents. In this account, we present such platinum-based anticancer complexes which owning various types of ligands, such as, amine carrier ligands, leaving groups, reactive molecule, steric hindrance groups, non-covalently binding platinum (II) complexes, Platinum(IV) complexes and polynuclear platinum complexes. Overall, platinum-based anticancer complexes reported recently years upon modern structure are emphasized.

Methylene versus carbonyl bridge in the structure of new tubulin polymerization inhibitors with tricyclic A-rings

The phenothiazine group has been identified as a suitable A ring in the structure of tubulin polymerization inhibitors. In our search to identify more potent inhibitors, a study of different isosteric tricyclic groups as new potential A rings was first realized and permitted to identify 1-azaphenothiazine and iminodibenzyl as favorable modulations providing compounds with improved activity against tubulin. An investigation of the methylene group as the connector between the A and B rings revealed that the "CH₂" bridge was tolerated, improving the biological potency when the A unit was of phenothiazine, 1-azaphenothiazine or iminodibenzyl type. Molecules 6-8 and 12 showed increased biological activity in comparison to parent phenstatin 2 on COLO 205 colon cancer cell line. The most antineoplastic agent in the current study was phenothiazine 5 displaying a GI₅₀ of 25nM against the melanoma MDA-MB-435 cell line.

Resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy of platinum(ii) anticancer complexes

Platinum-based drugs are commonly used in cancer treatment.

FTIR spectral signature of anticancer drugs. Can drug mode of action be identified?

Infrared spectroscopy has brought invaluable information about proteins and about the mechanism of action of enzymes. These achievements are difficult to transpose to living organisms as all biological molecules absorb in the mid infrared, with usually a high degree of overlap. Deciphering the contribution of each enzyme is therefore almost impossible. On the other hand, small changes in the infrared spectra of cells induced by environmental conditions or drugs may provide an accurate signature of the metabolic shift experienced by the cell as a response to a change in the growth medium. The present paper aims at reviewing the contribution of infrared spectroscopy to the description of small chemical changes that occur in cells when they are exposed to a drug. In particular, this review will focus on cancer cells and anti-cancer drugs. Results accumulated so far tend to demonstrate that infrared spectroscopy could be a very accurate descriptor of the mode of action of anticancer drugs. If confirmed, such a segmentation of potential drugs according to their "mode of action" will be invaluable for the discovery of new therapeutic molecules. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Physiological Enzymology and Protein Functions.

Discovery of indolizines containing triazine moiety as new leads for the development of antitumoral agents targeting mitotic events

A new family of 3-aroylindolizines bearing a dimethoxytriazine unit in their position 1 was designed, synthesized and evaluated for their ability to inhibit tubulin polymerization and cellular growth in vitro. Compound 39 was the best candidate in the current study with a GI50 value of 870 nM on SNB-75 CNS cancer cells and of 920 nM on MDA-MB-231/ATCC breast cancer cells. The standard NCI Compare results indicated that indolizine 39 may target PLK1 (polo-like kinase 1).