Novel 4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives featuring an 1-adamantyl moiety as potent EGFR inhibitors with enhanced activity against NSCLC cell lines

Nascent pharmacological advancement in adamantane derivatives

The adamantane moiety has attracted significant attention since its discovery in 1933 due to its remarkable structural, chemical, and medicinal properties. This molecule has a notable impact in the therapeutic field because of its "add-on" lipophilicity to any pharmacophoric moieties. As in the case of molecular hybridization, in which one pharmacophore is attached to another one(s) with a probability of increasing the biological activity, adding an adamantane unit improves the absorption distribution, metabolism and excretion properties of the resultant hybrid molecule. This review summarizes various reports highlighting the biological activities of adamantane-based synthetic compounds and their structure-activity relationship study. The information presented in this review may open up possible dimensions for adamantane-based drug development and discovery in the pharmaceutical industry after proper structural modifications.

Medicinal Chemistry of Quinazolines as Anticancer Agents Targeting Tyrosine Kinases

Cancer is a large group of diseases that can affect any organ or body tissue due to the abnormal cellular growth with the unknown reasons. Many of the existing chemotherapeutic agents are highly toxic with a low level of selectivity. Additionally, they lead to development of therapeutic resistance. Hence, the development of targeted chemotherapeutic agents with low side effects and high selectivity is required for cancer treatment. Quinazoline is a vital scaffold well-known to be linked with several biological activities. The anticancer activity is one of the prominent biological activities of this scaffold. Several established anticancer quinazolines work by different mechanisms on the various molecular targets. The aim of this review is to present different features of medicinal chemistry as drug design, structure activity relationship, and mode of action of some targeted anticancer quinazoline derivatives. It gives comprehensive attention on the chemotherapeutic activity of quinazolines in the viewpoint of drug discovery and its development. This review provides panoramic view to the medicinal chemists for supporting their efforts to design and synthesize novel quinazolines as targeted chemotherapeutic agents.

Design and synthesis of new adamantyl derivatives as promising antiproliferative agents

A series of adamantyl carboxamide derivatives containing sulfonate or sulfonamide moiety were designed as multitargeted inhibitors of ectonucleotide pyrophosphatases/phosphodiesterases (NPPs) and carbonic anhydrases (CAs). The target compounds were investigated for their antiproliferative activity against NCI-60 cancer cell lines panel. Three main series composed of 3- and 4-aminophenol, 4-aminoaniline, and 5-hydroxyindole scaffolds were designed based on a lead compound (A). Compounds 1e (benzenesulfonyl) and 1i (4-fluorobenzenesulfonyl) of 4-aminophenol backbone exhibited the most promising antiproliferative activity. Both compounds exhibited a broad-spectrum and potent inhibition against all the nine tested cancer subtypes. Both compounds showed nanomolar IC50 values over several cancer cell lines that belong to leukemia and colon cancer such as K-562, RPMI-8226, SR, COLO 205, HCT-116, HCT-15, HT29, KM12, and SW-620 cell lines. Compounds 1e and 1i induced apoptosis in K-562 leukemia cells in a dose-dependent manner. Compound 1i showed the highest cytotoxic activity with IC50 value of 200 nM against HT29 cell line. In addition, compounds 1e and 1i were tested against normal breast cells (HME1) and normal skin fibroblast cells (F180) and the results revealed that the compounds are safe toward normal cells compared to cancers cells. Enzymatic assays against NPP1-3 and carbonic anhydrases II, IX, and XII were performed to investigate the possible molecular target(s) of compounds 1e and 1i. Furthermore, a molecular docking study was performed to predict the binding modes of compounds 1e and 1i in the active site of the most sensitive enzymes subtypes.

An appraisal of anticancer activity with structure-activity relationship of quinazoline and quinazolinone analogues through EGFR and VEGFR inhibition: A review

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death. Globally a huge number of deaths and new incidences are reported annually. Heterocyclic compounds have been proved to be very effective in the treatment of different types of cancer. Among different heterocyclic scaffolds, quinazoline and quinazolinone core were found versatile and interesting with many biological activities. In the discovery of novel anticancer agents, the Quinazoline core is very effective. The FDA has approved more than 20 drugs as an anticancer bearing quinazoline or quinazolinone core in the last two decades. One prime example is Dacomitinib, which was newly approved for non-small-cell lung carcinoma treatment in 2018. These drugs work by different pathways to prevent the spread of cancer cell progression, including inhibition of different kinases, tubulin, kinesin spindle protein, and so forth. This review presented recent developments of quinazoline/quinazolinone scaffold bearing derivatives as anticancer agents acting as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), and dual EGFR/VEGFR inhibitors.

Building 2D classification models and 3D CoMSIA models on small-molecule inhibitors of both wild-type and T790M/L858R double-mutant EGFR

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has received widespread attention because it is an important target for anticancer drug design. Mutations in the EGFR, especially the T790M/L858R double mutation, have made cancer treatment more difficult. We herein built the structure-activity relationship models of small-molecule inhibitors on wild-type and T790M/L858R double-mutant EGFR with a whole dataset of 379 compounds. For 2D classification models, we used ECFP4 fingerprints to build support vector machine and random forest models and used SMILES to build self-attention recurrent neural network models. Each of all six models resulted in an accuracy of above 0.87 and the Matthews correlation coefficient value of above 0.76 on the test set, respectively. We concluded that inhibitors containing anilinoquinoline and methoxy or fluoro phenyl are highly active against wild EGFR. Substructures such as anilinopyrimidine, acrylamide, amino phenyl, methoxy phenyl, and thienopyrimidinyl amide appeared more in highly active inhibitors against double-mutant EGFR. We also used self-organizing map to cluster the inhibitors into six subsets based on ECFP4 fingerprints and analyzed the activity characteristics of different scaffolds in each subset. Among them, three datasets, which are based on pteridin, anilinopyrimidine, and anilinoquinoline scaffold, were selected to build 3D comparative molecular similarity analysis models individually. Models with the leave-one-out coefficient of determination (q²) above 0.65 were selected, and five descriptor types (steric, electrostatic, hydrophobic, donor, and acceptor) were used to study the effects of side chains of inhibitors on the activity against wild-type and mutant-type EGFR.

Novel 4-Anilinoquinazoline Derivatives as Potent Anticancer Agents: Design, Synthesis, Cytotoxic Activity, and Docking Study

The simultaneous inhibition of EGFR and VEGFR-2 is a promising method in cancer treatment. In the present work, several 4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives encompassing different substitutions at the C-4 and C-7 positions of a quinazoline core were designed, synthesised, and evaluated for their cytotoxicity on A431, HUVEC, and HU02 cell lines. Docking studies were carried out to test the interactions of all synthesised compounds with EGFR and VEGFR-2. Furthermore, a wound healing assay was done for the investigation of cell migration. The most potent compound was 8l followed by the compounds 8i and 8j which showed better cytotoxic activities on A431 and HUVEC cell lines than the standard (Vandetanib). The compounds 8f and 8a represented the best docking energies of 8.99 and 9.35 kcal mol−1 for EGFR and VEGFR, respectively. Moreover, molecular docking studies exhibited that compound 8l showed efficient binding affinity against both EGFR and VEGFR-2. It can bind to these receptors through the formation of essential hydrogen bonds between the quinazoline N1 atom and the Met796 backbone of EGFR and two hydrogen bonds with Cys919 and Thr916 of VEGFR-2 with energies of –7.99 and –7.85 kcal mol−1, respectively. In addition, this compound displayed the highest activity on cell migration and wound healing. Compound 8l with the highest cytotoxic activity can be considered a candidate for further investigation and structural optimisation as an antiproliferative agent.

Therapeutic progression of quinazolines as targeted chemotherapeutic agents

Presently cancer is a grave health issue with predominance beyond restrictions. It can affect any organ of the body. Most of the available chemotherapeutic drugs are highly toxic, not much selective and eventually lead to the development of resistance. Therefore, a target specific palliative approach for the treatment of cancer is required. Remarkable advancements in science have illuminated various molecular pathways responsible for cancer. This has resulted in abundant opportunities to develop targeted anticancer agents. Quinazoline nucleus is a privileged scaffold with significant diversified pharmacological activities. Numerous established anticancer quinazoline derivatives constitute a new class of chemotherapeutic agents which are found to act by inhibiting various protein kinases as well as other molecular targets. A recent update on various quinazoline derivatives acting on different types of molecular targets for the treatment of cancer has been compiled in this review. Brief SAR studies of quinazoline derivatives acting through different mechanisms of action have been highlighted. The comprehensive medicinal chemistry aspects of these agents in this review provide a panoramic view to the biologists as well as medicinal chemists working in this area and would assist them in their efforts to design and synthesize novel quinazoline based anticancer compounds.

6,7-Disubstituted-4-anilinoquinazoline: Design, Synthesis and Anticancer Activity as a Novel Series of Potent Anticancer Agents

Background: Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) are responsible for several pathological conditions such as the development of different kinds of tumors. The combined inhibition of both signal transduction pathways seems to be a promising novel approach for cancer treatment. Methods: In this study, novel 4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives with various substituents on-7 position of quinazoline moiety were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against A431 and HU02 cell lines. Results: Compounds 8a, 8d, and 8f displayed the most potent anticancer activities against A431(IC50 = 1.78 μM, 8.25 μM, and 7.18 μM, respectively) in comparison with reference standards(erlotinib IC50=8.31 μM and vandetanib IC50=10.62 μM). Molecular docking studies proved that8a as the most potent compound could be efficiently accommodated in the ATP binding site ofEGFR and VEGFR-2 through the formation of essential hydrogen bonds between quinazolineN1 atom and the Met796 backbone of EGFR as well as the Cys919 backbone of VEGFR-2 with a distance of 1.94 Å and 1.398 Å, respectively. Conclusion: Compound 8a as the most potent compound with morpholine and 3-bromoaniline at the 7 and 4 positions of quinazoline scaffold, respectively, deserves more study and structural optimization as an anticancer agent.

Novel quinazoline-based EGFR kinase inhibitors: A review focussing on SAR and molecular docking studies (2015-2019)

The over expression of EGFR has been recognized as the driver mechanism in the occurrence and progression of carcinomas such as lung cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, etcetera. EGFR receptor was thus established as an important target for the management of solid tumors. The occurrence of resistance caused as a result of mutations in EGFR has presented a formidable challenge in the discovery of novel inhibitors of EGFR. This has resulted in the development of three generations of EGFR TKIs. Newer mutations like C797S cause failure of Osimertinib and other EGFR TKIs belonging to the third-generation caused by the development of resistance. In this review, we have summarized the work done in the last five years to overcome the limitations of currently marketed drugs, giving structural activity relationships of quinazoline-based lead compounds synthesized and tested recently. We have also highlighted the shortcomings of the currently used approaches and have provided guidance for circumventing these limitations. Our review would help medicinal chemists streamline and guide their efforts towards developing novel quinazoline-based EGFR inhibitors.

Revealing quinquennial anticancer journey of morpholine: A SAR based review

Morpholine, a six-membered heterocycle containing one nitrogen and one oxygen atom, is a moiety of great significance. It forms an important intermediate in many industrial and organic syntheses. Morpholine containing drugs are of high therapeutic value. Its wide array of pharmacological activity includes anti-diabetic, anti-emetic, growth stimulant, anti-depressant, bronchodilator and anticancer. Multi-drug resistance in cancer cases have emerged in the last few years and have led to the failure of many chemotherapeutic drugs. Newer treatment methods and drugs are being developed to overcome this problem. Target based drug discovery is an effective method to develop novel anticancer drugs. To develop newer drugs, previously reported work needs to be studied. Keeping this in mind, last five year's literature on morpholine used as anticancer agents has been reviewed and summarized in the paper herein.

Novel 4-arylaminoquinazoline derivatives with (E)-propen-1-yl moiety as potent EGFR inhibitors with enhanced antiproliferative activities against tumor cells

A series of novel 4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives with (E)-propen-1-yl moiety were designed, synthesized and evaluated for biological activities in vitro. Most compounds exhibited highly antiproliferative activities against all tested tumor cell lines including A431, A549, NCI-H1975 and SW480 cells. Especially, compound 6e not only presented strong antiproliferative activities against the tested four tumor cell lines (IC₅₀ of 1.35, 8.83, 5.53 and 6.08 μM, respectively) which expressed wild type or L858R/T790M double mutant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), but also showed potent inhibitory activity against wild type EGFR (IC₅₀ = 20.72 nM). The result of molecular docking with EGFR suggested the binding mode of 6e was similar to gefitinib, but different from lapatinib. Additionally, western blot analysis showed that 6e inhibited the phosphorylation of EGFR and its downstream signaling proteins in lung cancer cells. The work could be very useful starting point for developing a new series of tyrosine kinase inhibitors targeting EGFR.

Novel Selective and Potent EGFR Inhibitor that Overcomes T790M-Mediated Resistance in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Treating patients suffering from EGFR mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR TKI) provides excellent response rates. However, approximately 60% of all patients ultimately develop drug resistance due to a second T790M EGFR TKI mutation. In this study, we report the novel molecule N-(3-((5-chloro-2-(4-((1-morpholino)methyl)phenylamino)-4-pyrimidinyl)amino)phenyl)acrylamide (DY3002) to preferentially inhibit the EGFR T790M mutant (EGFR^T790M) (IC₅₀ = 0.71 nM) over wild-type EGFR (IC₅₀ = 448.7 nM) in kinase assays. Compared to rociletinib (SI = 21.4) and osimertinib (SI = 40.9), it significantly increased selectivity (SI = 632.0) against EGFR^T790M over wild-type EGFR. Furthermore, in cell-based tests, DY3002, with an IC₅₀ value of 0.037 μM, exhibited enhanced inhibitory potency against H1975 cells. Moreover, AO/EB and DAPI staining assays as well as flow cytometer analyses indicated that DY3002 possesses superior biological properties compared to alternatives. In addition, a rat oral glucose tolerance test revealed that treatment with high drug doses (50 mg/kg) of DY3002 did not result in hyperglycemia, suggesting a reduction of side effects in NSCLC patients will be achievable relative to established EGFR inhibitors. In summary, our findings indicate DY3002 as a promising preclinical candidate for effective treatment of patients with EGFR^T790M-mutated NSCLC.