Molecular modelling insights into a physiologically favourable approach to eicosanoid biosynthesis inhibition through novel thieno[2,3-b]pyridine derivatives

New paracetamol hybrids as anticancer and COX-2 inhibitors: Synthesis, biological evaluation and docking studies

Drug repurposing is an emerging field in drug development that has provided many successful drugs. In the current study, paracetamol, a known antipyretic and analgesic agent, was chemically modified to generate paracetamol derivatives as anticancer and anticyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) agents. Compound 11 bearing a fluoro group was the best cytotoxic candidate with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50 ) values ranging from 1.51 to 6.31 μM and anti-COX-2 activity with IC50  = 0.29 μM, compared to the standard drugs, doxorubicin and celecoxib. The cell cycle and apoptosis studies revealed that compound 11 possesses the ability to induce cell cycle arrest in the S phase and apoptosis in colon Huh-7 cells. These results were strongly supported by docking studies, which showed strong interactions with the amino acids of the COX-2 protein, and in silico pharmacokinetic predictions were found to be favorable for these newly synthesized paracetamol derivatives. It can be concluded that compound 11 could block cell growth and proliferation by inhibiting the COX-2 enzyme in cancer therapy.

New pyrido[3′,2′:4,5]thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-one hybrids linked to arene units: synthesis of potential MRSA, VRE, and COX-2 inhibitors

In the current study, we reported the tandem synthesis of two series of arene-linked pyrimidinone hybrids with related fused thieno[2,3-b]pyridine moiety. The target hybrids were prepared, in moderate to excellent yields, by the reaction of a ternary mixture of the appropriate of 3-aminothieno[2,3-b]pyridine-2-carboxylate, DMF-DMA, and a series of aryl amines in dioxane at 110 °C for 8 h. The antibacterial activity of the new hybrids was estimated against six susceptible ATCC strains. Hybrids 5g and 7g, linked to a sulfonamide unit, showed the best efficacy against S. aureus and E. faecalis strains with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 1.7–1.8 μM, which exceed ciprofloxacin. Furthermore, some of new hybrids were examined as potential inhibitors of four different MRSA and VRE strains. Hybrids 5g and 7g demonstrated more potent efficacy than linezolid against MRSA strains with MIC values of 3.6/3.4 and 1.8/1.7 μM against ATCC:33591 and ATCC:43300 strains, respectively. The prior hybrids displayed a comparable efficacy with linezolid against VRE strains with MIC values of 7.3/6.9 and 3.6/3.4 μM against ATCC:51299 and ATCC:51575 strains, respectively. Additionally, some of the new hybrids were examined as potential COX-2 inhibitors using the reference celecoxib (IC50 of 0.117 µM). Hybrid 7g revealed more potent inhibitory efficacy than celecoxib with IC50 of 0.112 µM, whereas hybrid 5g showed almost inhibitory activity equivalent to celecoxib with IC50 of 0.121 µM. Molecular docking was performed to predict the possible binding interactions between hybrids 5g and 7g with the target COX-2 enzyme.

Computational analysis of eugenol inhibitory activity in lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase pathways

Chronic inflammation is triggered by numerous diseases such as osteoarthritis, Crohn's disease and cancer. The control of the pro-inflammatory process can prevent, mitigate and/or inhibit the evolution of these diseases. Therefore, anti-inflammatory drugs have been studied as possible compounds to act in these diseases. This paper proposes a computational analysis of eugenol in relation to aspirin and diclofenac and analyzing the ADMET profile and interactions with COX-2 and 5-LOX enzymes, important enzymes in the signaling pathway of pro-inflammatory processes. Through the analysis of ADMET in silico, it was found that the pharmacokinetic results of eugenol are similar to NSAIDs, such as diclofenac and aspirin. Bioinformatics analysis using coupling tests showed that eugenol can bind to COX-2 and 5-LOX. These results corroborate with different findings in the literature that demonstrate anti-inflammatory activity with less gastric irritation, bleeding and ulcerogenic side effects of eugenol. The results of bioinformatics reinforce studies that try to propose eugenol as an anti-inflammatory compound that can act in the COX-2/5-LOX pathways, replacing some NSAIDs in different diseases.

Design, synthesis, biological evaluation and docking study of novel indole-2-amide as anti-inflammatory agents with dual inhibition of COX and 5-LOX

In this work, a series of novel indole-2-amide compounds were designed, synthesized, characterized and the anti-inflammatory activity in vivo were evaluated. Compounds 8a, 10b, 12h, and 12l exhibited marked anti-inflammatory activity in 2,4-Dinitrofluorobenzenethe (DNFB) - induced mice auricle edema model. Further, compounds 8a, 10b and 12h exhibited potential in vitro COX-2 inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 21.86, 23.3 and 23.21 nM, respectively), while the reference drug celecoxib was 11.20 nM. The most promising compound 10b was exhibited the highest selectivity for COX-2 (selectivity index (COX-1/COX-2) = 17.45) and moderate 5-LOX inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 66 nM), which comparable to positive controlled zileuton (IC₅₀ = 38.91 nM). In addition, the test results showed compounds 10b and 12h no significant cytotoxic activity on normal cells (RAW264.7). Further, at the active sites of the COX-1, COX-2 co-crystals, 3b and 4l showed higher binding forces in the molecular docking study, which consistent with the results of in vitro experiments. These results demonstrated that these compounds had dual inhibitory activity of COX/5-LOX, providing clues for further searching for safer and more effective anti-inflammatory drugs.