Metal-free domino amination-Knoevenagel condensation approach to access new coumarins as potent nanomolar inhibitors of VEGFR-2 and EGFR

Development of certain benzylidene coumarin derivatives as anti-prostate cancer agents targeting EGFR and PI3Kβ kinases

Novel coumarin derivatives were synthesised and tested for their cytotoxicity against human cancer cells (PC-3 and MDA-MB-231). Compounds 5, 4b, and 4a possessed potent cytotoxic activity against PC-3 cells with IC50 3.56, 8.99, and 10.22 µM, respectively. Compound 4c displayed cytotoxicity more than erlotinib in the MDA-MB-231 cells with IC50 8.5 µM. Moreover, compound 5 exhibited potent inhibitory activity on EFGR with IC50 0.1812 µM, as well as PI3Kβ inhibitory activity that was twofold higher than LY294002, suggesting that this compound has a dual EGFR and PI3Kβ inhibiting activity. Docking aligns with the in vitro results and sheds light on the molecular mechanisms underlying dual targeting. Furthermore, compound 5 decreased AKT and m-TOR expression in PC-3 cells, showing that it specifically targets these cells via the EGFR/PI3K/Akt/m-TOR signalling pathway. Simultaneously, compound 5 caused cell cycle arrest at S phase and induced activation of both intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways.

In Silico Repurposing of a Novel Inhibitor (drug) of EGFR and VEGFR-2 Kinases of Cancer by Pharmacokinetics, Toxicity, Molecular Docking, and Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Vascular endothelial growth factor is an angiogenic that promotes the development and metastasis of tumors (VEGF). The epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, controls the division, growth, and death of cells via several signaling pathways. It has been found that most of the tyrosine kinase EGFR/VEGFR-2 inhibited by drugs that the FDA has approved are so far. The main objective of the present study was to identify an efficacious and selective dual inhibitor of VEGFR-2/EGFR for the treatment of cancer. Out of the 400 ligands tested against the kinases, 12 compounds demonstrated the best docking scores through molecular docking for the two kinases. Of these, only compound SCHEMBL2435814 inhibited the kinases with the highest score values when compared to a reference, vandetanib, as a dual inhibitor of EGFR/VEGFR-2 kinases through interaction with the identified active sites pocket. Following drug-likeness score toxicity and pharmacokinetic testing, the two compounds, SCHEMBL2435814 and vandetanib, were analyzed to determine how the two kinases interacted with each other. The results of calculations of π-cation interactions, hydrogen bonds, and hydrophobic interactions demonstrated a strong interaction between the two kinases and SCHEMBL2435814. Eventually, molecular dynamic modeling was used to assess the stability of complexes. This demonstrated many characteristics, including RMSF, RMSD, SASA, RG, and H-bond analysis, which demonstrated that SCHEMBL2435814 with the two kinases was more stable than vandetanib over a 100ns simulation period. By suppressing EGFR/VEGFR-2, chemical SCHEMBL2435814 may be able to postpone the signaling pathway of proteins that are essential to the advancement of cancer.

Coumarin-furo[2,3-d]pyrimidone hybrid molecules targeting human liver cancer cells: synthesis, anticancer effect, EGFR inhibition and molecular docking studies

The design, synthesis and investigation of antitumor activities of some coumarin-furo[2,3-d]pyrimidone hybrid molecules are reported. In vitro, HepG2 cells were used to investigate the cytotoxicity of 6a-n and 10a-n. The results demonstrated that coupling a furopyrimidone scaffold with coumarin through a hydrazide linker can effectively improve their synergistic anticancer activity. The coumarin-furo[2,3-d]pyrimidone combination 10a exhibited significant inhibitory activity against HepG2 cells with IC50 = 7.72 ± 1.56 μM, which is better than those of gefitinib and sorafenib. It is worth mentioning that the coumarin-furo[2,3-d]pyrimidone combination 10a showed excellent inhibition of the EGFR enzymatic activity with IC50 = 1.53 μM and 90% inhibition at 10 μM concentration. In silico investigation predicts the possibility of direct binding between the new coumarin-furo[2,3-d]pyrimidone hybrid molecules and the EGFR. The results suggest that coumarin-furo[2,3-d]pyrimidone hybrid molecules are potential antitumor agents targeting human liver cancer cells.

Thiazolation of phenylthiosemicarbazone to access new thiazoles: anticancer activity and molecular docking

Aim: Novel thiazole hybrids were synthesized via thiazolation of 4-phenylthiosemicarbazone (4). Materials & methods: The anticancer activity against the NCI 60 cancer cell line panel. Results: Methyl 2-(2-((1-(naphthalen-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazineylidene)-4-oxo-3-phenylthiazolidin-5-ylidene)acetate (6a) showed significant anticancer activity at 10 μM with a mean growth inhibition (GI) of 51.18%. It showed the highest cytotoxic activity against the ovarian cancer OVCAR-4 with an IC50 of 1.569 ± 0.06 μM. Compound 6a inhibited PI3Kα with IC50 = 0.225 ± 0.01 μM. Moreover, compound 6a revealed a decrease of Akt and mTOR phosphorylation in OVCAR-4 cells. In addition, antibacterial activity showed that compounds 11 and 12 were the most active against Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion: Compound 6a is a promising molecule that could be a lead candidate for further studies.