Synthesis and in vitro antitumor evaluation of new thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives as EGFR and DHFR inhibitors.

New thienopyrimidine derivatives 2-16 have been synthesized and their in vitro cytotoxicity was evaluated against five different human cancer cell lines HCT-116, Hela, MDA-MB-231, MCF7 and PC3. Compounds 6e, 7a, 7b, 7d, 10c and 10e displayed the highest antitumor activity against all tested cell lines compared to Doxorubicin. Enzyme inhibition assay revealed that compounds 6e and 10e showed high inhibitory activity against EGFR-TK, with IC50 values of 0.133 and 0.151 µM, compared to Olmutinib (IC50 = 0.028 µM); while the highest DHFR inhibitory activity was shown by compounds 7d and 10e with IC50 values of 0.462 and 0.541 µM, compared to Methotrexate (IC50 = 0.117 µM). Cell cycle analysis following a flow cytometric study using colorectal HCT-116 cancer cell line proved that compound 6e induced cell cycle arrest in G0-G1 phase, while compound 10e arrested the cell cycle at both G0-G1 and S phases. Additionally, both compounds (6e and 10e) were potently able to induce apoptosis in HCT-116 cell line. Docking results of compounds 6e and 10e into the pocket of EGFR active site showed their similar main binding features with Olmutinib, while compounds 7d and 10e showed only moderate fitting into DHFR compared to methotrexate. In silico studies revealed that most of the tested compounds obeyed Lipinski's RO5 and showed positive drug likeness scores.

Synthesis and in vitro antibacterial, antifungal, anti-proliferative activities of novel adamantane-containing thiazole compounds.

A series of (Z)-N-(adamantan-1-yl)-3,4-diarylthiazol-2(3H)-imines (5a-r) was synthesized via condensation of 1-(adamantan-1-yl)-3-arylthioureas (3a-c) with various aryl bromomethyl ketones (4a-f). The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and by X-ray crystallography. The in vitro inhibitory activities of the synthesized compounds were assessed against a panel of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and pathogenic fungi. Compounds 5c, 5g, 5l, 5m, and 5q displayed potent broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, while compounds 5a and 5o showed activity against the tested Gram-positive bacteria. Compounds 5b, 5l and 5q displayed potent antifungal activity against Candida albicans. In addition, the synthesized compounds were evaluated for anti-proliferative activity towards five human tumor cell lines. The optimal anti-proliferative activity was attained by compounds 5e and 5k which showed potent inhibitory activity against all the tested cell lines. Molecular docking analysis reveals that compounds 5e and 5k can occupy the positions of NAD cofactor and the histone deacetylase inhibitor EX527 at the active site of SIRT1 enzyme.

Synthesis, biological evaluation, and molecular modeling studies of new benzoxazole derivatives as PARP-2 inhibitors targeting breast cancer.

Many benzoxazole-based and similar scaffolds were reported to have wide-range of anticancer activities. In this study, four series of benzoxazole derivatives were designed by combining benzoxazole scaffold with different amines via a reversed phenyl amide linker to produce the compounds of series A, B and C. A fourth new hybrid of benzoxazole with 1,2,3 triazole ring (series D) was also designed. The designed compounds were synthesized and screened for their anti-breast cancer activity against MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines using MTT assay. The most potent cytotoxic compounds; 11-14, 21, 22, 25-27 were further evaluated for their in vitro PARP-2 enzyme inhibition. Compounds 12 and 27 proved to be the most active PARP-2 inhibitors with IC50 values of 0.07 and 0.057 µM, respectively. Compounds 12 and 27 caused cell cycle arrest in mutant MCF-7 cell line at G2/M and G1/S phase, respectively and they possessed significant apoptosis-promoting activity. Docking results of compounds 12 and 27 into PARP-2 pocket demonstrated binding interactions comparable to those of olaparib. Their predicted pharmacokinetic parameters and oral bioavailability appeared to be appropriate. Collectively, it could be concluded that compounds 12 and 27 are promising anti-breast cancer agents that act as PARP-2 inhibitors with potent apoptotic activity.

New series of isoxazole derivatives targeting EGFR-TK: Synthesis, molecular modeling and antitumor evaluation.

New series of isoxazole derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for in vitro antitumor activity against HepG2, MCF-7 and HCT-116 cancer cells. Results showed that 4b and 25a are the most potent members against the three cancer cells (IC50 = 6.38-9.96 µM). Further, 4a, 8a and 16b showed strong activity against the three cancer cells, whereas 6b, 10a, 10b and 16a exhibited moderate activity against the three cancer cells. Moreover, 25a showed low cytotoxicity against WISH and WI38 normal cells (IC50 = 53.19 ± 3.1 and 38.64 ± 2.8 µM, respectively), and it might be used as a potent and safe antitumor agent. The nine active compounds 4a, 4b, 6b, 8a, 10a, 10b, 16a, 16b and 25a were studied for EGFR-TK inhibitory activity, where 10a, 10b and 25a showed the highest inhibitory activity (IC50 = 0.064 ± 0.001, 0.066 ± 0.001 and 0.054 ± 0.001 µM, respectively). Compound 25a was also assessed against other four target proteins, and it showed promising inhibitory activities against VEGFR-2, CK2α and topoisomerase IIß, and acceptable inhibitory activity against tubulin polymerization. Cell cycle analysis of cancer cells treated with 25a proved that it induces cell cycle arrest at G2/M and pre-G1 phases. Furthermore, it was confirmed that 25a induces cancer cell death through apoptosis, supported by increased caspases 3/9 levels and increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in the three cancer cells. In addition, docking studies proved the exact fit of 25a into the active site of EGFR-TK, VEGFR-2, CK2α, topoisomerase IIß and tubulin. Lipinski's rule and Veber's standards were also analyzed, and results illustrated that 25a is expected to be well absorbed orally.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new curcumin analogues as antioxidant and antitumor agents: molecular modeling study.

New curcumin analogues have been synthesized and their antioxidant activities were investigated by measuring their free radical scavenging capacities. The in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities of the synthesized compounds on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cell line were evaluated. 4-(4-Chlorophenyl)-2-(5-ethyl-7-(4-methoxybenzylidene)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3,3a,4,5,6,7-hexahydro-2H-pyrazolo[4,3-c] pyridin-2-yl)thiazole 7h showed excellent antineoplastic activity in both in vitro and in vivo studies more than that of tested compounds and reference drug, cisplatin. Different molecular modeling studies were performed, where docking of compound 7h into telomerase active site suggested that it could exert its antitumor potential by telomerase inhibition.

Antitumor evaluation and molecular docking study of substituted 2-benzylidenebutane-1,3-dione, 2-hydrazonobutane-1,3-dione and trifluoromethyl-1H-pyrazole analogues.

A series of 2-(arylidene)-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-4,4,4-trifluorobutane-1,3-diones (2-4), 4-(arylidene)-3-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-pyrazoles (5-7), 1-(4-chlorophenyl)-4,4,4-trifluoro-2-(2-(aryl)hydrazono)butane-1,3-diones (8, 9), 3-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-(2-(aryl)hydrazono)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-pyrazoles (10, 11), 2-((3-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-phenyl-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)methylene)malononitrile (13), 2-((5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-phenyl-3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)methylene)cycloalkan-1-ones (14, 15) and 1-(aryl)-3-(5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-phenyl-3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)prop-2-en-1-ones (16, 17) were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antitumor activity. 1-(4-Chlorophenyl)-4,4,4-trifluoro-2-(2-(4-methoxyphenyl)hydrazono)butane-1,3-dione (8) showed potential and broad spectrum antitumor activity compared to the known drug 5-FU with GI50, (6.61 and 22.60 µM), TGI (42.66 and <100 µM) and LC50 (93.33 and <100 µM) values, respectively. On the other hand, compound 8 yielded selective activities toward melanoma, colon, non-small lung and breast cancer cell lines compared with erlotinib and gefitinib. Molecular docking methodology was performed for compound 8 into binding site of B-RAFV600E and EGFR kinases which showed similar binding mode to vemurafenib (PLX4032) and erlotinib, respectively.

Synthesis, docking study and ß-adrenoceptor activity of some new oxime ether derivatives.

A new series of oxime ethers 4a-z was designed and synthesized to test the blocking activity against ß1 and ß2-adrenergic receptors. Docking of these ether derivatives into the active site of the identified 3D structures of ß1 and ß2-adrenergic receptors showed MolDock scores comparable to those of reference compounds. Biological results revealed that the inhibition effects on the heart rate and contractility are less than those of propranolol. Nevertheless, the two compounds 4p and 4q that displayed the highest negative MolDock score with ß2-adrenergic receptors showed ß2-antagonistic activity by decreasing salbutamol relaxation of precontracted tracheal strips, which indicates the importance of a chlorothiophene moiety in the hydrophobic region for best complementarity with ß2 receptors. On other hand, the presence of a homoveratryl moiety increases the MolDock score of the tested compounds with the ß1 receptor.