Tetrazanbigen Derivatives as Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARγ) Partial Agonists: Design, Synthesis, Structure-Activity Relationship, and Anticancer Activities.

Tetrazanbigen (TNBG) is a novel sterol isoquinoline derivative with poor water solubility and moderate inhibitory effects on human cancer cell lines via lipoapoptosis induction. Herein, we developed a series of novel TNBG analogues with improved water solubility and antiproliferative activities. The CCK-8 assay enabled us to identify a novel compound, 14g, which strongly inhibited HepG2 and A549 cell growth with IC50 values of 0.54 and 0.47 µM, respectively. The anticancer effects might be explained by the partial activation and upregulation of PPARγ expression, as indicated by the transactivation assay and western blotting evaluation. Furthermore, the in vitro antiproliferative activity was verified in an in vivo xenograft model in which 14g strongly reduced tumor growth at a dose of 10 mg/kg. In line with these positive observations, 14g exhibited an excellent water solubility of 31.4 mg/mL, which was more than 1000-fold higher than that of TNBG (4 µg/mL). Together, these results suggest that 14g is a promising anticancer therapeutic that deserves further investigation.