Structure–Activity Relationship Study of Permethyl Ningalin B Analogues as P-Glycoprotein Chemosensitizers

In vitro identification of oridonin hybrids as potential anti-TNBC agents inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis by regulation of p21, γH2AX and cleaved PARP

TNBC has been recognized as the most highly aggressive breast cancer without chemotherapeutic drugs. A collection of oridonin hybrids consisting of conventional antitumor pharmacophores including nitrogen mustards and adamantane-1-carboxylic acid were synthesized by deletion or blockade of multiple hydroxyl groups and structural rearrangement. Compound 11a showed the most promising anti-TNBC activity with nearly 15-fold more potent antiproliferative effects than oridonin against MDA-MB-231 and HCC1806. Moreover, 11a significantly inhibited HCC1806, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 cell proliferation by arresting cells at the G2/M phase in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, 11a could trigger dose-dependently early and late apoptosis in those indicated cell lines. More importantly, 11a could significantly increase p21, γH2AX and cleaved PARP accumulation in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, compound 11a exhibited better stability than oridonin in a plasma assay. Taken together, all results demonstrated that 11a may warrant further investigation as a promising anticancer drug candidate for the treatment of TNBC.

Progress on synthesis and structure-activity relationships of lamellarins over the past decade

Lamellarins are polyaromatic alkaloids isolated from marine organisms, including mollusks, tunicates, and sponges. Currently, over 60 structurally distinct natural lamellarins have been reported, and most of them exhibit promising biological activities, such as topoisomerase inhibition, mitochondrial function inhibition, multidrug resistance reversing, and anti-HIV activity. There has also been a significant progress on the synthetic study of lamellarins which has been regularly updated by numerous medicinal chemists as well. This review provides a detailed summary of the synthesis, pharmacology, and structural modification of lamellarins over the past decades.

Ningalins, Pyrrole-Bearing Metabolites Isolated from Didemnum spp. Synthesis and MDR-Reversion Activity in Cancer Therapy

Multi-Drug Resistance (MDR) is one of the most frequent problems observed in the course of cancer chemotherapy. Cells under treatment, tend to develop survival mechanisms to drug-action thus generating drug-resistance. One of the most important mechanism to get it is the over expression of P-gp glycoprotein, which acts as an efflux-pump releasing the drug outside of the cancer cell. A strategy for a succesfull treatment consists in the co-administration of one compound that acts against P-gp and another which acts against the cell during chemotherapy. Ningalins are pyrrole-containing naturally occurring compounds isolated mainly from the marine tunicate Didemnum spp and also they are some of the top reversing agents in MDR treatment acting on P-gp. Considering the relevance displayed for some of these isolated alkaloids or their core as a drug for co-administration in cancer therapy, all the total synthesis described to date for the members of ningalins family are reviewed herein.

Iodide-Dependent Selective Dehydroaromatization Affording Maleimide-Fused 9,10-Phenanthrenes and Their Analogues

A novel and selective synthesis of polycyclic fused maleimides from easily available raw materials under metal-free conditions is presented. This cascade protocol involves self-condensation of cyclohexanones, followed by Diels-Alder reaction with maleimides, intramolecular dehydration, and selective dehydroaromatization in a one-pot fashion, affording maleimide-fused 9,10-phenanthrenes and their analogues in satisfactory yields. Notably, iodide reagents play a critical role in switching the selectivity toward full or partial dehydrogenation compounds.

Stereoselective Synthesis of Tetrasubstituted Olefins via Visible-Light-Promoted Iodine-Mediated Homo-Coupling of Diazo

A visible-light-promoted iodine-mediated homo-coupling of diazo was first described. A series of tetrasubstituted olefins were synthesized in high yields and with low to high Z-selectivities from phenyldiazoacetates. For 3-diazooxindoles, isoindigo derivatives were provided in moderate to high yields and with excellent E-selectivities. Experimental results showed that the reaction proceeded through a diiodo intermediate. The synthetic usefulness of this reaction was illustrated by the synthesis of maleimide derivatives and dispiro epoxy.

Synthesis and evaluation of stereoisomers of methylated catechin and epigallocatechin derivatives on modulating P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance in cancers

P-glycoprotein (P-gp; ABCB1)-mediated drug efflux causes multidrug resistance in cancer. Previous synthetic methylated epigallocatechin (EGC) possessed promising P-gp modulating activity. In order to further improve the potency, we have synthesized some novel stereoisomers of methylated epigallocatechin (EGC) and gallocatechin (GC) as well as epicatechin (EC) and catechin (C). The (2R, 3S)-trans-methylated C derivative 25 and the (2R, 3R)-cis-methylated EC derivative 31, both containing dimethyoxylation at ring B, tri-methoxylation at ring D and oxycarbonylphenylcarbamoyl linker between ring D and C3, are the most potent in reversing P-gp mediated drug resistance with EC₅₀ ranged from 32 nM to 93 nM. They are non-toxic to fibroblast with IC₅₀ > 100 μM. They can inhibit the P-gp mediated drug efflux and restore the intracellular drug concentration to a cytotoxic level. They do not downregulate surface P-gp protein level to enhance drug retention. They are specific for P-gp with no or low modulating activity towards MRP1- or BCRP-mediated drug resistance. In summary, methylated C 25 and EC 31 derivatives represent a new class of potent, specific and non-toxic P-gp modulator.

Phosphorylation of arenes, heteroarenes, alkenes, carbonyls and imines by dehydrogenative cross-coupling of P(O)-H and P(R)-H

Organophosphorous compounds have recently emerged as a powerful class of compounds with widespread applications, such as in bioactive natural products, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and organic materials, and as ligands in catalysis. The preparation of these compounds requires synthetic techniques with novel catalytic systems varying from transition metal, photo- and electrochemical catalysis to transformations without metal catalysts. Over the past few decades, the addition of P-H bonds to alkenes, alkynes, arenes, heteroarenes and other unsaturated substrates in hydrophosphination and other related reactions via the above-mentioned catalytic processes has emerged as an atom economical approach to obtain organophosphorus compounds. In most of the catalytic cycles, the P-H bond is cleaved to yield a phosphorus-based radical, which adds onto the unsaturated substrate followed by reduction of the corresponding radical yielding the product.

Ru(II)-Catalyzed Switchable C-H Alkylation and Spirocyclization of 2-Arylquinoxalines with Maleimides via ortho-C-H Activation

A Ru(II)-catalyzed facile and controllable protocol for C-H alkylation and spirocyclization of 2-arylquinoxalines with maleimides has been achieved under ambient air in high yields. Sequential ortho-C-H activation and C-annulation results in the formation of diverse polyheterocycles containing spiro[indeno[1,2-b]quinoxaline-11,3'-pyrrolidine]-2',5'-diones, which are of potent interest in medicinal chemistry. Mechanistic investigations suggest a reversible cleavage of the ortho-C-H bond in the turnover-limiting step.

Chemical molecular-based approach to overcome multidrug resistance in cancer by targeting P-glycoprotein (P-gp)

Multidrug resistance (MDR) remains one of the major impediments for efficacious cancer chemotherapy. Increased efflux of multiple chemotherapeutic drugs by transmembrane ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily is considered one of the primary causes for cancer MDR, in which the role of P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB1) has been most well-established. The clinical co-administration of P-gp drug efflux inhibitors, in combination with anticancer drugs which are P-gp transport substrates, was considered to be a treatment modality to surmount MDR in anticancer therapy by blocking P-gp-mediated multidrug efflux. Extensive attempts have been carried out to screen for sets of nontoxic, selective, and efficacious P-gp efflux inhibitors. In this review, we highlight the recent achievements in drug design, characterization, structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, and mechanisms of action of the newly synthetic, potent small molecules P-gp inhibitors in the past 5 years. The development of P-gp inhibitors will increase our knowledge of the mechanisms and functions of P-gp-mediated drug efflux which will benefit drug discovery and clinical cancer therapeutics where P-gp transporter overexpression has been implicated in MDR.

Medicinal chemistry strategies to discover P-glycoprotein inhibitors: An update

The presence of multidrug resistance (MDR) in malignant tumors is one of the primary causes of treatment failure in cancer chemotherapy. The overexpression of the ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which significantly increases the efflux of certain anticancer drugs from tumor cells, produces MDR. Therefore, inhibition of P-gp may represent a viable therapeutic strategy to overcome cancer MDR. Over the past 4 decades, many compounds with P-gp inhibitory efficacy (referred to as first- and second-generation P-gp inhibitors) have been identified or synthesized. However, these compounds were not successful in clinical trials due to a lack of efficacy and/or untoward toxicity. Subsequently, third- and fourth-generation P-gp inhibitors were developed but dedicated clinical trials did not indicate a significant therapeutic effect. In recent years, an extraordinary array of highly potent, selective, and low-toxicity P-gp inhibitors have been reported. Herein, we provide a comprehensive review of the synthetic and natural products that have specific inhibitory activity on P-gp drug efflux as well as promising chemosensitizing efficacy in MDR cancer cells. The present review focuses primarily on the structural features, design strategies, and structure-activity relationships (SAR) of these compounds.

Synthesis of maleimide fused benzocarbazoles and imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines via rhodium(iii)-catalyzed [4 + 2] oxidative cycloaddition

In this paper, an efficient and sustainable synthesis of maleimide-fused benzocarbazoles/imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines from the reaction of 2-arylindoles/2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines with maleimides through oxidative [4 + 2] annulation is presented.

Flavonoids as P-gp Inhibitors: A Systematic Review of SARs

P-glycoprotein, also known as ABCB1 in the ABC transporter family, confers the simultaneous resistance of metastatic cancer cells towards various anticancer drugs with different targets and diverse chemical structures. The exploration of safe and specific inhibitors of this pump has always been the pursuit of scientists for the past four decades. Naturally occurring flavonoids as benzopyrone derivatives were recognized as a class of nontoxic inhibitors of P-gp. The recent advent of synthetic flavonoid dimer FD18, as a potent P-gp modulator in reversing multidrug resistance both in vitro and in vivo, specifically targeted the pseudodimeric structure of the drug transporter and represented a new generation of inhibitors with high transporter binding affinity and low toxicity. This review concerned the recent updates on the structure-activity relationships of flavonoids as P-gp inhibitors, the molecular mechanisms of their action and their ability to overcome P-gp-mediated MDR in preclinical studies. It had crucial implications on the discovery of new drug candidates that modulated the efflux of ABC transporters and also provided some clues for the future development in this promising area.

The Effects of Synthetically Modified Natural Compounds on ABC Transporters

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major hurdle which must be overcome to effectively treat cancer. ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABC transporters) play pivotal roles in drug absorption and disposition, and overexpression of ABC transporters has been shown to attenuate cellular/tissue drug accumulation and thus increase MDR across a variety of cancers. Overcoming MDR is one desired approach to improving the survival rate of patients. To date, a number of modulators have been identified which block the function and/or decrease the expression of ABC transporters, thereby restoring the efficacy of a range of anticancer drugs. However, clinical MDR reversal agents have thus far proven ineffective and/or toxic. The need for new, effective, well-tolerated and nontoxic compounds has led to the development of natural compounds and their derivatives to ameliorate MDR. This review evaluates whether synthetically modifying natural compounds is a viable strategy to generate potent, nontoxic, ABC transporter inhibitors which may potentially reverse MDR.

Gold-silver catalyzed straightforward one pot synthesis of pyrano[3,4-b]pyrrol-7(1H)-ones

Pyrano[3,4-b]pyrrol-7(1H)-one is a bicyclic structure that is rarely described in the literature but is found in numerous polycyclic natural products as lamellarins. This work presents a one-pot synthesis of pyrano[3,4-b]pyrrol-7(1H)-one substituted in the 2- and 5-position. The reaction proceeds via a one-pot two step 5-endo-dig and 6-endo-dig cyclization catalyzed by a cationic gold complex with high regioselectivity.

Natural alkaloids as P-gp inhibitors for multidrug resistance reversal in cancer

The biggest challenge associated with cancer chemotherapy is the development of cross multi-drug resistance to almost all anti-cancer agents upon chronic treatment. The major contributing factor for this resistance is efflux of the drugs by the p-glycoprotein pump. Over the years, inhibitors of this pump have been discovered to administer them in combination with chemotherapeutic agents. The clinical failure of first and second generation P-gp inhibitors (such as verapamil and cyclosporine analogs) has led to the discovery of third generation potent P-gp inhibitors (tariquidar, zosuquidar, laniquidar). Most of these inhibitors are nitrogenous compounds and recently a natural alkaloid CBT-01^® (tetrandrine) has advanced to the clinical phase. CBT-01 demonstrated positive results in Phase-I study in combination with paclitaxel, which warranted conducting it's Phase II/III trial. Apart from this, there exist a large number of natural alkaloids possessing potent inhibition of P-gp efflux pump and other related pumps responsible for the development of resistance. Despite the extensive contribution of alkaloids in this area, has never been reviewed. The present review provides a comprehensive account on natural alkaloids possessing P-gp inhibition activity and their potential for multidrug resistance reversal in cancer.

Extending the structure-activity relationship study of marine natural ningalin B analogues as P-glycoprotein inhibitors

In the present study, a total of 25 novel ningalin B analogues were synthesized and evaluated for their P-gp modulating activity in a P-gp overexpressed breast cancer cell line LCC6MDR. Preliminary structure-activity study shows that A ring and its two methoxy groups are important pharmacophores for P-gp inhibiting activity. Among all derivatives, 23 is the most potent P-gp modulator with EC₅₀ of 120-165 nM in reversing paclitaxel, DOX, vinblastine and vincristine resistance. It is relatively safe to use with selective index at least greater than 606 compared to verapamil. Mechanistic study demonstrates that compound 23 reverses P-gp mediated drug resistance by inhibiting transport activity of P-gp, thereby restoring intracellular drug accumulation. In summary, our study demonstrates that ningalin B analogue 23 is a non-cytotoxic and effective P-gp chemosensitizer that can be used in the future for reversing P-gp mediated clinical cancer drug resistance.

Marine Natural Products as Models to Circumvent Multidrug Resistance

Multidrug resistance (MDR) to anticancer drugs is a serious health problem that in many cases leads to cancer treatment failure. The ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which leads to premature efflux of drugs from cancer cells, is often responsible for MDR. On the other hand, a strategy to search for modulators from natural products to overcome MDR had been in place during the last decades. However, Nature limits the amount of some natural products, which has led to the development of synthetic strategies to increase their availability. This review summarizes the research findings on marine natural products and derivatives, mainly alkaloids, polyoxygenated sterols, polyketides, terpenoids, diketopiperazines, and peptides, with P-gp inhibitory activity highlighting the established structure-activity relationships. The synthetic pathways for the total synthesis of the most promising members and analogs are also presented. It is expected that the data gathered during the last decades concerning their synthesis and MDR-inhibiting activities will help medicinal chemists develop potential drug candidates using marine natural products as models which can deliver new ABC transporter inhibitor scaffolds.

Palladium-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative coupling of maleimides with simple arenes: a fast track to highly substituted maleimides

A combination of PivOH/TFA, accelerates an unprecedented palladium-catalyzed CDC diarylation of unfunctionalized maleimides with simple arenes.

Marine natural products

This review covers the literature published in 2013 for marine natural products (MNPs), with 982 citations (644 for the period January to December 2013) referring to compounds isolated from marine microorganisms and phytoplankton, green, brown and red algae, sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans, molluscs, tunicates, echinoderms, mangroves and other intertidal plants and microorganisms. The emphasis is on new compounds (1163 for 2013), together with the relevant biological activities, source organisms and country of origin. Reviews, biosynthetic studies, first syntheses, and syntheses that lead to the revision of structures or stereochemistries, have been included.

Optimization of permethyl ningalin B analogs as P-glycoprotein inhibitors

In the present study, a total of 9 novel permethyl ningalin B analogs have been synthesized and evaluated for their P-gp modulating activity in a P-gp overexpressed breast cancer cell line LCC6MDR. Among these derivatives, compound 12 with dimethoxy groups at rings A and B and tri-substitution at ring C with ortho-methoxyethylmorpholine, meta-bromo and para-benzyloxy groups displays the most potent P-gp modulating activity with EC50 of 423 nM to reverse paclitaxel resistance. It is non-toxic towards L929 fibroblast with IC50 greater than 100 μM and with selective index greater than 236. Its mechanism to reverse P-gp mediated drug resistance is by virtue of inhibiting transport activity of P-gp, restoring intracellular drug accumulation and eventually chemosensitizing the cancer cells to anticancer drug again. Moreover, compound 12 showed better solubility (405 ng/mL) than hit compound 1 in phosphate buffer (pH 4.0). In summary, our study demonstrates that permethyl ningalin B derivative 12 is non-toxic and efficient P-gp inhibitor that is a potential candidate to be used clinically to reverse P-gp mediated cancer drug resistance.

Modification of marine natural product ningalin B and SAR study lead to potent P-glycoprotein inhibitors

In this study, new marine ningalin B analogues containing a piperazine or a benzoloxy group at ring C have been synthesized and evaluated on their P-gp modulating activity in human breast cancer and leukemia cell lines. Their structure-activity relationship was preliminarily studied. Compounds 19 and 20 are potent P-gp inhibitors. These two synthetic analogues of permethyl ningalin B may be potentially used as effective modulators of P-gp-mediated drug resistance in cancer cells.

4,5-Di-substituted benzyl-imidazol-2-substituted amines as the structure template for the design and synthesis of reversal agents against P-gp-mediated multidrug resistance breast cancer cells

Over-expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a primary multidrug transporter which is located in plasma membranes, plays a major role in the multidrug resistance (MDR) of cytotoxic chemotherapy. Naamidines are a class of marine imidazole alkaloids isolated from Leucetta and Clathrina sponges, possessing a Y-shaped scaffold. Based on the results previously obtained from the third-generation MDR modulator ONT-093 and other modulators developed in our group, we designed and synthesized a series of novel 4,5-di-substituted benzyl-1-methyl-1H-imidazol-2-substituted amines using the Naamidine scaffold as the structure template. Subsequently, their reversing activity for Taxol resistance has been evaluated in P-gp-mediated multidrug resistance breast cancer cell line MDA435/LCC6MDR. Compounds 12c with a Y-shaped scaffold, and compound 17c which is 'X-shaped' scaffold and possesses a 4-diethylamino group at aryl ring B, turned out to be the most potent P-gp modulators. It appears that compounds 12c and 17c at 1 μM concentration can sensitize LCC6MDR cells toward Taxol by 26.4 and 24.5 folds, with an EC50 212.5 and 210.5 nM, respectively. These two compounds are about 5-6 folds more potent than verapamil (RF = 4.5). Moreover, compounds 12c and 17c did not exhibit obvious cytotoxicity in either cancer cell lines or normal mouse fibroblast cell lines. This study has demonstrated that the synthetic Naamidine analogues can be potentially employed as effective, safe modulators for the P-gp-mediated drug resistance cancer cells.