Synthesis and bioevaluation of novel steroidal isatin conjugates derived from epiandrosterone/androsterone

Photocatalytic Three-Component Synthesis of 3-Heteroarylbicyclo[1.1.1]pentane-1-acetates

Herein, we report a visible-light-induced three-component reaction involving [1.1.1]propellane, diazoates, and various heterocycles for the synthesis of 3-heteroarylbicyclo[1.1.1]pentane-1-acetates. Throughout this reaction, the radicals generated from diazoate species react with [1.1.1]propellane in an addition reaction to form bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane (BCP) radicals that subsequently react with heterocycles, leading to the formation of 1,3-disubstituted BCP acetates. Notably, this methodology exhibits excellent functional group compatibility, high atom economy, and mild reaction conditions, thus facilitating suitable synthetic access to 1,3-disubstituted BCP acetates.

Novel Steroidal[17,16-d]pyrimidines Derived from Epiandrosterone and Androsterone: Synthesis, Characterization and Configuration-Activity Relationships

Two series of novel steroidal[17,16-d]pyrimidines derived from natural epiandrosterone and androsterone were designed and synthesized, and these compounds were screened for their potential anticancer activities. The preliminary bioassay indicated that some of these prepared compounds exhibited significantly good cytotoxic activities against human gastric cancer (SGC-7901), lung cancer (A549), and hepatocellular liver carcinoma (HepG2) cell lines compared with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), epiandrosterone, and androsterone. Especially the respective pairs from epiandrosterone and androsterone showed significantly different inhibitory activities, and the possible configuration-activity relationships have also been summarized and discussed based on kinase assay and molecular docking, which indicated that the inhibition activities of these steroidal[17,16-d]pyrimidines might obviously be affected by the configuration of the hydroxyl group in the part of the steroidal scaffold.

Recent Advances in Natural Product-Based Hybrids as Anti-Cancer Agents

Cancer is one of the top leading causes of death worldwide. It is a heterogenous disease characterized by unregulated cell proliferation and invasiveness of abnormal cells. For the treatment of cancer, natural products have been widely used as a source of therapeutic ingredients since ancient times. Although natural compounds and their derivatives have demonstrated strong antitumor activity in many types of cancer, their poor pharmacokinetic properties, low cell selectivity, limited bioavailability and restricted efficacy against drug-resistant cancer cells hinder their wide clinical application. Conjugation of natural products with other bioactive molecules has given rise to a new field in drug discovery resulting to the development of novel, bifunctional and more potent drugs for cancer therapy to overcome the current drawbacks. This review discusses multiple categories of such bifunctional conjugates and highlights recent trends and advances in the development of natural product hybrids. Among them, ADCs, PDCs, ApDCs, PROTACs and AUTOTACs represent emerging therapeutic agents against cancer.

A Comprehensive Review on Steroidal Bioconjugates as Promising Leads in Drug Discovery

Ever increasing unmet medical requirements of the human race and the continuous fight for survival against variety of diseases give birth to novel molecules through research. As diseases evolve, different strategies are employed to counter the new challenges and to discover safer, more effective, and target-specific therapeutic agents. Among several novel approaches, bioconjugation, in which two chemical moieties are joined together to achieve noticeable results, has emerged as a simple and convenient technique for a medicinal chemist to obtain potent molecules. The steroid system has been extensively used as a privileged scaffold gifted with significantly diversified medicinal properties in the drug discovery and development process. Steroidal molecules are preferred for their rigidness and good ability to penetrate biological membranes. Slight alteration in the basic ring structure results in the formation of steroidal derivatives with a wide range of therapeutic activities. Steroids are not only active as such, conjugating them with various biologically active moieties results in increased lipophilicity, stability, and target specificity with decreased adverse effects. Thus, the steroid nucleus prominently behaves as a biological carrier for small molecules. The steroid bioconjugates offer several advantages such as synergistic activity with fewer side effects due to reduced dose and selective therapy. The steroidal bioconjugates have been widely explored for their usefulness against various disorders and have shown significant utility as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, antimicrobial, insecticidal/pesticidal, antioxidant, and antiviral agents along with several other miscellaneous activities. This work provides a comprehensive review on the therapeutic progression of steroidal bioconjugates as medicinally active molecules. The review covers potential biological applications of steroidal bioconjugates and would benefit the wider scientific community in their drug discovery endeavors.

Diarylamine-Guided Carboxamide Derivatives: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Potential Mechanism of Action

Diarylamines are a class of important skeleton widely existing in drugs or natural products. To discover novel diarylamine analogues as potential drugs, two series of diamide and carboxamide derivatives containing diarylamine scaffold were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their potential cytotoxic activities. The bioassay results indicated that some of the obtained compounds (C5, C6, C7, C11) exhibited good cytotoxic effect on cancer cell lines (SGC-7901, A875, HepG2), especially, compound C11 present significantly selective proliferation inhibition activity on cancer and normal cell lines (MARC145). In addition, the possible apoptosis induction for highly potential molecules was investigated, which present compound C11 could be used as novel lead compound for discovery of promising anticancer agents.

Design, Synthesis, and Cytotoxic Activity of Novel Natural Arylsulfonamide-Inspired Molecules

Primary arylsulfonamide functional groups feature prominently in diverse pharmaceuticals. However, natural arylsulfonamides are relatively infrequent. In this work, two novel arylsulfonamide natural products were first synthesized, and then a series of novel molecules derived from natural arylsulfonamides were designed and synthesized, and their in vitro cytotoxic activities against A875, HepG2, and MARC145 cell lines were systematically evaluated. The results indicate that some of these arylsulfonamide derivatives exhibit significantly good cytotoxic activity against the tested cell lines compared with the control 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), such as compounds 10l, 10p, 10q, and 10r. In particular, the potential molecule 10q, containing a carbazole moiety, exhibited the highest inhibitory activity against all tested cell lines, with IC50 values of 4.19 ± 0.78, 3.55 ± 0.63, and 2.95 ± 0.78 μg/mL, respectively. This will offer the potential to discover novel drug-like compounds from the sparsely populated area of natural products that can lead to effective anticancer agents.

Biological evaluation of antiproliferative and anti-invasive properties of an androstadiene derivative on human cervical cancer cell lines

Gynaecological cancers are leading cause of death: breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of malignancies, and cervical neoplasms rank fourth for both incidence and mortality among women worldwide. In one of our previous studies, favourable antiproliferative and antimetastatic properties of a newly synthesized androstane derivative, 17APAD have been demonstrated on breast cancer cell lines with different expression patterns of hormone receptors. The aim of the current study was to investigate the antitumoral potential of this molecule in cervical cancer cell lines, including SiHa cells positive for human papilloma virus (HPV) type 16 and HPV-negative C33A cells. 17APAD exerted pronounced growth-inhibition (with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.76 to 1.72 μM with considerable cancer selectivity), while cisplatin used as a reference agent yielded higher IC₅₀ values (ranging from 3.69 to 12.43) and less selectivity, as evidenced by MTT assay. The proapoptotic effect and morphological changes induced by 17APAD were detected by Hoechst 33258-propidium iodide or Annexin V-Alexa488-propidium iodide fluorescent double staining methods, supplemented with a caspase-3 activity assay to identify the mechanism behind the programmed cell death induced by 17APAD. Additionally, significant and concentration-dependent elevation of the ratio of cells in the G2/M phase, on the expense of G0/G1 phase, was observed after 48 h of exposure to 17APAD. Besides its potent antiproliferative properties against both cervical cancer cell lines, 17APAD elicited a remarkable inhibition of cell migration and invasion as detected in wound-healing and Boyden chamber assays, respectively. The mechanisms of action underlying the effects of 17APAD on cell proliferation and motility were independent of androgenic activity, as demonstrated by the Yeast Androgen Screen method. Our results provide new evidence for the proapoptotic and anti-invasive properties of 17APAD, suggesting that it is worth of further research, as a promising prototype for designing novel anticancer agents.

Promising applications of steroid сonjugates for cancer research and treatment

The conjugation of biologically active molecules is a powerful tool for drug discovery used to target a variety of multifunctional diseases including cancer. Conjugated drugs can provide combination therapies in a single multi-functional agent and, by doing so, be more specific and powerful than conventional classic treatments. Steroids are widely used for conjugation with other biological active molecules. This review refers to investigations of steroid conjugates as potential anticancer agents carried out mostly over the past decade. It consists of five parts in which the data concerning structure and anticancer activity of steroid conjugates with DNA alkylating agents, metallocomplexes, approved drugs, some biological active molecules, some natural compounds and related synthetic analogs are described.