Design and synthesis of sulfonamide-substituted diphenylpyrimidines (SFA-DPPYs) as potent Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors with improved activity toward B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia

Sulfonamides as anticancer agents: A brief review on sulfonamide derivatives as inhibitors of various proteins overexpressed in cancer

Sulfonamides have gained prominence as versatile agents in cancer therapy, effectively targeting a spectrum of cancer-associated enzymes. This review provides an extensive exploration of their multifaceted roles in cancer biology. Sulfonamides exhibit adaptability by acting as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, disrupting pivotal signaling pathways in cancer progression. Moreover, they disrupt pH regulation mechanisms in cancer cells as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, inhibiting growth, and survival. Sulfonamides also serve as aromatase inhibitors, interfering with estrogen synthesis in hormone-driven cancers. Inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases presents an opportunity to impede cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Additionally, their emerging role as histone deacetylase inhibitors offers promising prospects in epigenetic-based cancer therapies. These diverse roles underscore sulfonamides as invaluable tools for innovative anti-cancer treatments, warranting further exploration for enhanced clinical applications and patient outcomes.

Covalent inhibitors: An ambitious approach for the discovery of newer oncotherapeutics

Covalent inhibitors have been used to treat several diseases for over a century. However, strategic approaches for the rational design of covalent drugs have taken a definitive shape in recent times. Since the first appearance of covalent inhibitors in the late 18th century, the field has grown tremendously and around 30% of marketed drugs are covalent inhibitors especially, for oncology indications. However, the off-target toxicity and safety concerns can be significant issues related to the covalent drugs. Covalent kinase inhibitor (CKI) targeted oncotherapeutics has advanced dramatically over the last two decades since the discovery of afatinib (Gilotrif®), an EGFR inhibitor. Since then, US FDA has approved 10 CKIs for diverse cancer targets. The present review broadly summarizes the ongoing development in the discovery of newer CKIs from 2016 till the end of 2022. We believe that these efforts will assist the modern medicinal chemist actively working in the field of CKI discovery for varied indications.

A specific visual-volumetric sensor for mercury ions based on smart hydrogel

On the basis of the "seeing is believing" concept and the existing theory of Hg2+ coordination chemistry, for the first time, we innovatively designed and synthesized a visual-volumetric sensor platform with fluorescein and uracil functionalized polyacrylamide hydrogel. Without the aid of any complicated instruments and power sources, the sensor-enabled quantitative μM-level Hg2+ detection Hg2+ by reading graduation on a pipette with the naked eye. The sensor undergoes volumetric response and shows a wide linear response range to Hg2+ (1.0 × 10-6-5.0 × 10-5 mol L-1) with 2.8 × 10-7 mol L-1 as the detection limit. The highly selective (easily distinguished Hg2+ from other common metal ions), rapid response (∼30 min), and acceptable repeatability (RSD < 5% in all cases) demonstrated that the developed sensor is suitable for onsite practical use for the determination of Hg2+ while being low-cost, simple, and portable. The design principles of the obtained materials and the construction techniques and methods of the sensors described in our study provide a new idea for the research and development of smart materials and a series of visual-volumetric sensors for other analytes.

Recent research of BTK inhibitors: Methods of structural design, pharmacological activities, manmade derivatives and structure-activity relationship

Protein kinases constitute the largest group within the kinase family, and mutations and translocations of protein kinases due to genetic alterations are intimately linked to the pathogenesis of numerous diseases. Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a member of the protein kinases and plays a pivotal role in the development and function of B cells. BTK belongs to the tyrosine TEC family. The aberrant activation of BTK is closely associated with the pathogenesis of B-cell lymphoma. Consequently, BTK has always been a critical target for treating hematological malignancies. To date, two generations of small-molecule covalent irreversible BTK inhibitors have been employed to treat malignant B-cell tumors, and have exhibited clinical efficacy in hitherto refractory diseases. However, these drugs are covalent BTK inhibitors, which inevitably lead to drug resistance after prolonged use, resulting in poor tolerance in patients. The third-generation non-covalent BTK inhibitor Pirtobrutinib has obtained approval for marketing in the United States, thereby circumventing drug resistance caused by C481 mutation. Currently, enhancing safety and tolerance constitutes the primary issue in developing novel BTK inhibitors. This article systematically summarizes recently discovered covalent and non-covalent BTK inhibitors and classifies them according to their structures. This article also provides a detailed discussion of binding modes, structural features, pharmacological activities, advantages and limitations of typical compounds within each structure type, providing valuable references and insights for developing safer, more effective and more targeted BTK inhibitors in future studies.

Design, synthesis and pharmacological characterization of aminopyrimidine derivatives as BTK/FLT3 dual-target inhibitors against acute myeloid leukemia

A novel class of aminopyrimidine-based Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) and FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) dual-target inhibitors based on the BTK inhibitor spebrutinib was designed for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Representative compounds 14d, 14g, 14j and 14m effectively inhibited BTK, FLT3, and FLT3(D835Y) mutant activities with low nanomolar IC₅₀'s. These compounds displayed potent antiproliferative activities against leukemia cells with IC₅₀'s of 0.29-950 nM. In particular, 14m had IC₅₀ values 101-1045 times lower than those of spebrutinib against all cancer cell lines tested. Compound 14m effectively induced autophagy and apoptosis in MV-4-11 cells through regulating related proteins in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, intraperitoneal administration of 14m at 20 mg/kg significantly repressed the growth of MV-4-11 cells with a TGI value of 95.68% with no apparent toxicity. These BTK/FLT3 dual-target inhibitors represent promising leads for further structural optimization and antitumor mechanism studies.

Design, synthesis and activity evaluation of isopropylsulfonyl-substituted 2,4- diarylaminopyrimidine derivatives as FAK inhibitors for the potential treatment of pancreatic cancer

A series of isopropylsulfonyl-substituted 2,4-diarylaminopyrimidine derivatives were designed and synthesized as FAK inhibitors to evaluate their biological activity against pancreatic cancer. One of the most promising compound, 9h, effectively interfered with FAK-mediated phosphorylation and suppressed the proliferation of human pancreatic cancer AsPC-1 cells with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of 0.1165 nM and 0.1596 μM, respectively. In addition, 9h also exhibited relatively low toxicity against immortalized normal human liver L-02 cells, indicating its low hepatotoxicity at an equivalent dosage. Furthermore, the elucidation of the mechanism of action revealed that compound 9h effectively inhibited cell migration and inhibited the proliferation of AsPC-1 by blocking the cell cycle at the G2/M phase. Moreover, 9h also demonstrated efficacy in inhibiting tumor growth in a murine AsPC-1 cell xenograft model at the dosage of 10 mg/kg without losing noticeable body weight. All these findings provide important clues for the identification of potent FAK inhibitors.

The Development of FAK Inhibitors: A Five-Year Update

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase over-expressed in different solid cancers. In recent years, FAK has been recognized as a new target for the development of antitumor agents, useful to contrast tumor development and metastasis formation. To date, studies on the role of FAK and FAK inhibitors are of great interest for both pharmaceutical companies and academia. This review is focused on compounds able to block FAK with different potencies and with different mechanisms of action, that have appeared in the literature since 2017. Furthermore, new emerging PROTAC molecules have appeared in the literature. This summary could improve knowledge of new FAK inhibitors and provide information for future investigations, in particular, from a medicinal chemistry point of view.

Sulfonamide derivatives as potential anti-cancer agents and their SARs elucidation

Currently, the arise of drug resistance and undesirable off-target effects of anti-cancer agents are major challenges for cancer treatment, which energizes medicinal chemists to develop more anti-cancer agents with high efficiency and low toxicity continuously. Sulfonamide derivatives are a class of promising compounds with diverse biological activities including anti-cancer, and parts of them have been marketed for cancer therapy, such as Belinostat, ABT-199 and Amsacrine. In this review, we summed up the recent advances of sulfonamide derivatives as potential anti-cancer agents based on the anti-cancer targets, such as aromatase, carbonic anhydrase (CA), anti-apoptotic B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) proteins, topoisomerase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), and elucidated the corresponding structure-activity relationships (SARs) of most sulfonamide derivatives. We hope this review could provide a clear insight for medicinal chemists in the rational design of more potent and bio-target specific anti-cancer agents.

The Development of BTK Inhibitors: A Five-Year Update

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) represented, in the past ten years, an important target for the development of new therapeutic agents that could be useful for cancer and autoimmune disorders. To date, five compounds, able to block BTK in an irreversible manner, have been launched in the market, whereas many reversible BTK inhibitors (BTKIs), with reduced side effects that are more useful for long-term administration in autoimmune disorders, are under clinical investigation. Despite the presence in the literature of many articles and reviews, studies on BTK function and BTKIs are of great interest for pharmaceutical companies as well as academia. This review is focused on compounds that have appeared in the literature from 2017 that are able to block BTK in an irreversible or reversible manner; also, new promising tunable irreversible inhibitors, as well as PROTAC molecules, have been reported. This summary could improve the knowledge of the chemical diversity of BTKIs and provide information for future studies, particularly from the medicinal chemistry point of view. Data reported here are collected from different databases (Scifinder, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Pubmed) using "BTK" and "BTK inhibitors" as keywords.

Review of the development of BTK inhibitors in overcoming the clinical limitations of ibrutinib

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) regulates multiple important signaling pathways and plays a key role in the proliferation, survival, and differentiation of B-lineage cells and myeloid cells. BTK is a promising target for the treatment of hematologic malignancies. Ibrutinib, the first-generation BTK inhibitor, was approved to treat several B-cell malignancies. Despite the remarkable potency and efficacy of ibrutinib against various lymphomas and leukemias in the clinics, there are also some clinical limitations, such as off-target toxicities and primary/acquired drug resistance. As strategies to overcome these challenges, second- and third-generation BTK inhibitors, BTK-PROTACs, as well as combination therapies have been explored. In this review, we summarize clinical developments of the first-, second- and third-generation BTK inhibitors, as well as recent advances in BTK-PROTACs and ibrutinib-based combination therapies.

Anticancer profile and anti-inflammatory effect of new N-(2-((4-(1,3-diphenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)pyridine sulfonamide derivatives

A new series of N-(2-((4-(1,3-diphenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)pyridine sulfonamide derivatives 11a-o were designed and synthesized based on our previous works. The new series was tested for its anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects. The anticancer profile of final target compounds was obtained by testing them over 60 cell lines belong to nine types of cancers. Compound 11c showed the highest percent inhibition, so its potency was measured over the most sensitive cell line to determine its IC₅₀ over each cell. In addition, compound 11c was tested over kinase panel to get its biological target(s). Compound 11c had strong activity over JNK1, JNK2, p38a and V600EBRAF. All final target compounds were tested against the four kinases to build a structure activity relationship. Compound 11c was subjected to cell cycle analysis to check at which phase is affected by 11c. The anti-inflammatory effect of final target compounds was screened by testing their ability to inhibit both nitric oxide release and prostaglandin E2 production on raw 264.7 macrophages in addition to test their cytotoxic effect on the same cells. Compound 11n showed the highest ability to inhibit prostaglandin E2 and all compound showed moderate to low activity regarding inhibition of nitric oxide release. Compound 11n was investigated for its ability to reduce Interleukin 6 and TNF-alpha. In addition, compound 11n was tested for its effect on induced Nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and COX-2 mRNA expression level and its effect on nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), COX-1 and COX-2 protein levels where it showed selectivity for COX-2 compared to COX-1 and iNOS.

Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking of new sulfonamide-based indolinone derivatives as multitargeted kinase inhibitors against leukemia

Series of novel sulfonamide-based 3-indolinones 3a-m and 4a-f were designed, synthesized and then their cytotoxic activity was evaluated against a panel of sixty cancer cell lines. This screening indicated that 4-(2-(5-fluoro-2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)acetyl)phenyl benzenesulfonate (4f) possessed promising cytotoxicity against CCRF-CEM and SR leukemia cell lines with IC₅₀ values 6.84 and 2.97 µM, respectively. Further investigation of the leukemic cytotoxicity of compound 4f was carried out by performing PDGFRα, VEGFR2, Aurora A/B and FLT3 enzyme assays and CCRF-CEM and SR cell cycle analysis. These investigations showed that compound 4f exhibited pronounced dual inhibition of both kinases PDGFRα and Aurora A with potency of 24.15 and 11.83 nM, respectively. The in vitro results were supported by molecular docking studies in order to explore its binding affinity and its key amino acids interactions. This work represents compound 4f as a promising anticancer agent against leukemia.

Progress in the development of small molecular inhibitors of the Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) as a promising cancer therapy

Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a key kinase in the B cell antigen receptor signal transduction pathway, which is involved in the regulation of the proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of B cells. BTK has become a significant target for the treatment of hematological malignancies and autoimmune diseases. Ibrutinib, the first-generation BTK inhibitor, has made a great contribution to the treatment of B cell malignant tumors, but there are still some problems such as resistance or miss target of site mutation. Therefore, there is an imperative need to develop novel BTK inhibitors to overcome these problems. Besides, proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) technology has been successfully applied to the development of BTK degradation agents, which has opened a fresh way for the BTK targeted treatment. This paper reviews the biological function of BTK, the discovery and development of BTK targeted drugs as a promising cancer therapy. It mainly reviews the binding sites and structural characteristics of BTK, structure-activity relationships, activity and drug resistance of BTK inhibitors, as well as potential treatment strategies to overcome the resistance of BTK, which provides a reference for the rational design and development of new powerful BTK inhibitors.

Design, Synthesis and Anticancer Profile of New 4-(1H-benzo[d]imidazol-1-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine-Linked Sulfonamide Derivatives with V600EBRAF Inhibitory Effect

A new series of 4-(1H-benzo[d]imidazol-1-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine linked sulfonamide derivatives 12a–n was designed and synthesized according to the structure of well-established V600EBRAF inhibitors. The terminal sulfonamide moiety was linked to the pyrimidine ring via either ethylamine or propylamine bridge. The designed series was tested at fixed concentration (1 µM) against V600EBRAF, finding that 12e, 12i and 12l exhibited the strongest inhibitory activity among all target compounds and 12l had the lowest IC₅₀ of 0.49 µM. They were further screened on NCI 60 cancer cell lines to reveal that 12e showed the most significant growth inhibition against multiple cancer cell lines. Therefore, cell cycle analysis of 12e was conducted to investigate the effect on cell cycle progression. Finally, virtual docking studies was performed to gain insights for the plausible binding modes of vemurafenib, 12i, 12e and 12l.

Drug Discovery Targeting Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) as a Promising Cancer Therapy

FAK is a nonreceptor intracellular tyrosine kinase which plays an important biological function. Many studies have found that FAK is overexpressed in many human cancer cell lines, which promotes tumor cell growth by controlling cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, and survival. Therefore, targeting FAK is considered to be a promising cancer therapy with small molecules. Many FAK inhibitors have been reported as anticancer agents with various mechanisms. Currently, six FAK inhibitors, including GSK-2256098 (Phase I), VS-6063 (Phase II), CEP-37440 (Phase I), VS-6062 (Phase I), VS-4718 (Phase I), and BI-853520 (Phase I) are undergoing clinical trials in different phases. Up to now, there have been many novel FAK inhibitors with anticancer activity reported by different research groups. In addition, FAK degraders have been successfully developed through “proteolysis targeting chimera” (PROTAC) technology, opening up a new way for FAK-targeted therapy. In this paper, the structure and biological function of FAK are reviewed, and we summarize the design, chemical types, and activity of FAK inhibitors according to the development of FAK drugs, which provided the reference for the discovery of new anticancer agents.

Recent Advances in the Discovery of Multitargeted Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors as Anticancer Agents

The treatment of cancer has been one of the most significant challenges for the medical field. Further research on the signal transduction pathway of tumor cells is driving the rapid development of antitumor agents targeting tyrosine kinases. However, most of the currently approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors based on the "single target/single drug" design are becoming less and less effective in the treatment of complex, heterogeneous, and multigenic cancers; this also results in resistance to chemotherapy. In contrast, multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (MT-TKIs) can effectively block multiple pathways of intracellular signal transduction. Therefore, they have therapeutic advantages over single-targeted inhibitors and have become a hotspot in antitumor drug research in recent years. This minireview summarizes recent advances in the discovery of MT-TKIs based on their chemical structures. In particular, we describe the kinase inhibitory and antitumor activity of promising compounds, as well as their structure - activity relationships (SARs).

Synthesis and biological activity of imidazole group-substituted arylaminopyrimidines (IAAPs) as potent BTK inhibitors against B-cell lymphoma and AML

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a member of the Tec kinase family and plays a key role in the modulation of the B-cell receptor (BCR)-mediated signaling pathway. Inhibition of BTK has been proven to be an effective therapeutic approach for various hematological malignancies, such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), mantle cell leukemia (MCL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Here, a new series of imidazole group-substituted arylaminopyrimidines (IAAPs) were designed and synthesized as potent inhibitors of the enzymatic activity of BTK with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) ranging from 13.10 to 42.40 nM. In particular, 11a and 11b exhibited stronger antiproliferative activity against AML and B lymphomas cell lines compared with BTK inhibitor ibrutinib and showed low cytotoxicity against normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In addition, analysis of the mechanism of action of these compounds revealed that 11a and 11b induced significant apoptosis in AML and B lymphoma cells by arresting the cell cycle at the G1/G0 or G2/M stage and blocked BTK autophosphorylation as well as the ensuing abrogation of pro-survival AKT and ERK signaling. Taken together, these results suggest that 11a and 11b might serve as valuable preclinical candidates for the treatment of AML and B-cell lymphoma.

Novel Pyrimidines as Multitarget Protein Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)

A new class of pyrimidine derivatives were identified as potent protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitors for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Most of these small-molecule inhibitors displayed strong enzymatic activity against BTK and JAK3 kinases at concentrations lower than 10 nM. The representative compound N-(3-((5-chloro-2-(4-((1-morpholino)acetylamino)phenylamino)-4-pyrimidinyl)amino)phenyl)acrylamide (6 a) also exhibited high inhibitory potency toward both BTK and JAK kinase families, as well as ErbB4, at a concentration of 10 nM, achieving rates of inhibition higher than 57 %. Additionally, in vivo biological evaluations showed that 6 a can remarkably decrease the severity of IPF disease. All these investigations suggested that the multi-PTK inhibitor 6 a may serve as a promising agent for the treatment of IPF.

Pharmacophore modeling and virtual screening in search of novel Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a known drug target for B cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Consequently, efforts to develop BTK inhibitors have gained momentum in the last decade, resulting in a number of potential inhibitory molecules. However, to date, there are only two FDA approved drugs for B cell malignancies (Ibrutinib and Acalabrutinib), thus continued efforts are warranted. A large number of molecular scaffolds with potential BTK inhibitory activity are already available from these studies, and therefore we employed a ligand-based approach towards computer-aided drug design to develop a pharmacophore model for BTK inhibitors. Using over 400 molecules with known half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC₅₀) for BTK, a four-point pharmacophore hypothesis was derived, with two aromatic rings (R), one hydrogen bond acceptor (A) and one hydrogen bond donor (D). Screening of two small-molecule databases against this pharmacophore returned 620 hits with matching chemical features. Docking these against the ATP-binding site of the BTK kinase domain through a virtual screening workflow yielded 30 hits from which ultimately two natural compounds (two best scoring poses for each) were prioritized. Molecular dynamics simulations of these four docked complexes confirmed the stability of protein-ligand binding over a 200 ns time period, and thus their suitability for lead molecule development with further optimization and experimental testing. Of note, the pharmacophore model developed in this study would also be further useful for de novo drug design and virtual screening efforts on a larger scale. Graphical abstract Pharmacophore modeling and virtual screening in search of novel Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Anticancer and DNA binding studies of potential amino acids based quinazolinone analogs: Synthesis, SAR and molecular docking

A novel series of amino acids conjugated quinazolinone-Schiff's bases were synthesized and screened for their in vitro anticancer activity and validated by molecular docking and DNA binding studies. In the present investigations, compounds 32, 33, 34, 41, 42 and 43 showed most potent anticancer activity against tested cancer cell lines and DNA binding study using methyl green comparing to doxorubicin and ethidium bromide as a positive control respectively. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) revealed that the tryptophan and phenylalanine derived electron donating groups (OH and OCH₃) favored DNA binding studies and anticancer activity whereas; electron withdrawing groups (Cl, NO₂, and F) showed least anticancer activity. The molecular docking study, binding interactions of the most active compounds 33, 34, 42 and 43 stacked with A-T rich regions of the DNA minor groove by surface binding interactions were confirmed.

Identification of highly potent BTK and JAK3 dual inhibitors with improved activity for the treatment of B-cell lymphoma

The BTK and JAK3 receptor tyrosine kinases are two validated and therapeutically amenable targets in the treatment of B-cell lymphomas. Here we report the identification of several classes of pyrimidine derivatives as potent BTK and JAK3 dual inhibitors. Among these molecules, approximately two thirds displayed strong inhibitory capacity at less than 10 nM concentration, and four compounds (7e, 7g, 7m and 7n) could significantly inhibit the phosphorylation of BTK and JAK3 enzymes at concentrations lower than 1 nM. Additionally, these pyrimidine derivatives also exhibited enhanced activity to block the proliferation of B-cell lymphoma cells compared with the representative BTK inhibitor ibrutinib. In particular, two structure-specific compounds 7b and 7e displayed stronger activity than reference agents in cell-based evaluation, with IC₅₀ values lower than 10 μM. Further biological studies, including flow cytometric analysis, and a xenograft model for in vivo evaluation, also indicated their efficacy and low toxicity in the treatment of B-cell lymphoma. These findings provide a new insight for the development of novel anti-B-cell lymphoma drugs with multi-target actions.

Phosphamide-containing diphenylpyrimidine analogues (PA-DPPYs) as potent focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitors with enhanced activity against pancreatic cancer cell lines

A family of phosphamide-containing diphenylpyrimidine analogues (PA-DPPYs) were synthesized as potent focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitors. The PA-DPPY derivatives could significantly inhibit the FAK enzymatic activity at concentrations lower than 10.69 nM. Among them, compounds 7a and 7e were two of the most active FAK inhibitors, possessing IC₅₀ values of 4.25 nM and 4.65 nM, respectively. In particular, compound 7e also displayed strong activity against AsPC cell line, with an IC₅₀ of 1.66 μM, but show low activity against the normal HPDE6-C7 cells (IC₅₀ > 20 μM), indicating its low cell cytotoxicity. Additionally, flow cytometry analysis showed that after treatment with 7e (8 μM, 72 h), both AsPC and Panc cells growth were almost totally inhibited, with a cell viability rate of 16.8% and 18.1%, respectively. Overall, compound 7e may be served as a valuable FAK inhibitor for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of sulfonamide-substituted diphenylpyrimidine derivatives (Sul-DPPYs) as potent focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitors with antitumor activity

A class of sulfonamide-substituted diphenylpyrimidines (Sul-DPPYs) were synthesized to improve activity against the focal adhesion kinase (FAK). Most of these new Sul-DPPYs displayed moderate activity against the FAK enzyme with IC₅₀ values of less than 100nM; regardless, they could effectively inhibit several classes of refractory cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values of less than 10µM, including the pancreatic cancer cell lines (AsPC-1, Panc-1 and BxPC-3), the NSCLC-resistant H1975 cell line, and the B lymphocyte cell line (Ramos cells). Results of flow cytometry indicated that inhibitor 7e promoted apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, it almost completely induced the apoptosis at a concentration of 10µM. Compound 7e may be selected as a potent FAK inhibitor for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.