Trisubstituted purine inhibitors of PDGFRα and their antileukemic activity in the human eosinophilic cell line EOL-1

New Smoothened ligands based on the purine scaffold as potential agents for treating pancreatic cancer

Aberrant activation of the Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway has been associated with the development and progression of pancreatic cancer. For this reason, blockade of Hh pathway by inhibitors targeting the G protein-coupled receptor Smoothened (SMO) has been considered as a therapeutic target for the treatment of this cancer. In our previous work, we obtained a new SMO ligand based on a purine scaffold (compound I), which showed interesting antitumor activity in several cancer cell lines. In this work, we report the design and synthesis of 17 new purine derivatives, some of which showed high cytotoxic effect on Mia-PaCa-2 (Hh-dependent pancreatic cancer cell lines) and low toxicity on non-neoplastic HEK-293 cells compared with gemcitabine, such as 8f, 8g and 8h (IC50 = 4.56, 4.11 and 3.08 μM, respectively). Two of these purines also showed their ability to bind to SMO through NanoBRET assays (pKi = 5.17 for 8f and 5.01 for 8h), with higher affinities to compound I (pKi = 1.51). In addition, docking studies provided insight the purine substitution pattern is related to the affinity on SMO. Finally, studies of Hh inhibition for selected purines, using a transcriptional functional assay based on luciferase activity in NIH3T3 Shh-Light II cells, demonstrated that 8g reduced GLI activity with a IC50 = 6.4 μM as well as diminished the expression of Hh target genes in two specific Hh-dependent cell models, Med1 cells and Ptch1-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Therefore, our results provide a platform for the design of SMO ligands that could be potential selective cytotoxic agents for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Atropisomeric 1-phenylbenzimidazoles affecting microtubule organization: influence of axial chirality

Benzimidazoles are frequently used in medicinal chemistry. Their anticancer effect is among the most prominent biological activities exhibited by this scaffold. Although numerous benzimidazole derivatives have been synthesized, possible atropisomerism of ortho-substituted 1-phenylbenzimidazoles has been largely overlooked. The aim of this research was to synthesize a small library of novel atropisomeric benzimidazole derivatives and explore their biological activity in various cancer and normal human cell lines. The new unique structural motif provides an interesting 3D architecture with axial chirality, which further contributes to molecular complexity and specificity. Racemates and their separated atropisomers arrested the cell cycle, caused apoptosis, and affected microtubule organization in cancer cells in vitro at different intensities. Moreover, this phenomenon was also verified by the inhibition of endothelial cell migration. These results showed that (+)-atropisomers, especially 5n, exhibit a stronger effect and show promise as agents for cancer therapy.

Promising 2,6,9-Trisubstituted Purine Derivatives for Anticancer Compounds: Synthesis, 3D-QSAR, and Preliminary Biological Assays

We designed, synthesized, and evaluated novel 2,6,9-trisubstituted purine derivatives for their prospective role as antitumor compounds. Using simple and efficient methodologies, 31 compounds were obtained. We tested these compounds in vitro to draw conclusions about their cell toxicity on seven cancer cells lines and one non-neoplastic cell line. Structural requirements for antitumor activity on two different cancer cell lines were analyzed with SAR and 3D-QSAR. The 3D-QSAR models showed that steric properties could better explain the cytotoxicity of compounds than electronic properties (70% and 30% of contribution, respectively). From this analysis, we concluded that an arylpiperazinyl system connected at position 6 of the purine ring is beneficial for cytotoxic activity, while the use of bulky systems at position C-2 of the purine is not favorable. Compound 7h was found to be an effective potential agent when compared with a currently marketed drug, cisplatin, in four out of the seven cancer cell lines tested. Compound 7h showed the highest potency, unprecedented selectivity, and complied with all the Lipinski rules. Finally, it was demonstrated that 7h induced apoptosis and caused cell cycle arrest at the S-phase on HL-60 cells. Our study suggests that substitution in the purine core by arylpiperidine moiety is essential to obtain derivatives with potential anticancer activity.

Synthesis and fluorescent properties of N(9)-alkylated 2-amino-6-triazolylpurines and 7-deazapurines

The synthesis of novel fluorescent N(9)-alkylated 2-amino-6-triazolylpurine and 7-deazapurine derivatives is described. A new C(2)-regioselectivity in the nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions of 9-alkylated-2,6-diazidopurines and 7-deazapurines with secondary amines has been disclosed. The obtained intermediates, 9-alkylated-2-amino-6-azido-(7-deaza)purines, were transformed into the title compounds by CuAAC reaction. The designed compounds belong to the push-pull systems and possess promising fluorescence properties with quantum yields in the range from 28% to 60% in acetonitrile solution. Due to electron-withdrawing properties of purine and 7-deazapurine heterocycles, which were additionally extended by triazole moieties, the compounds with electron-donating groups showed intramolecular charge transfer character (ICT/TICT) of the excited states which was proved by solvatochromic dynamics and supported by DFT calculations. In the 7-deazapurine series this led to increased fluorescence quantum yield (74%) in THF solution. The compounds exhibit low cytotoxicity and as such are useful for the cell labelling studies in the future.

Synthesis and anti-mitotic activity of 2,4- or 2,6-disubstituted- and 2,4,6-trisubstituted-2H-pyrazolo[4,3-c]pyridines

An efficient synthetic route for the synthesis of 2H-pyrazolo[4,3-c]pyridines, primarily varying by the substituents at the 2-, 4- and 6-positions, is described here. A Sonogashira-type cross-coupling reaction was employed to yield 3-alkynyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carbaldehydes, ethanones and propanones from the corresponding 1H-pyrazol-3-yl trifluoromethanesulfonates. Subsequent treatment of the coupling products with dry ammonia afforded a versatile library of 2H-pyrazolo[4,3-c]pyridines, which were then evaluated for their cytotoxicity against K562 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. The most potent of these compounds displayed low micromolar GI₅₀ values in both cell lines. Active compounds induced dose-dependent cell-cycle arrest in mitosis, as shown by flow cytometric analysis of DNA content and phosphorylation of histone H3 at serine-10. Moreover, biochemical assays revealed increased activities of caspases-3/7 in treated cells, specific fragmentation of PARP-1, and phosphorylation of Bcl-2, collectively confirming apoptosis as the mechanism of cell death.