Targeting the Melanocortin 1 Receptor in Melanoma: Biological Activity of α-MSH-Peptide Conjugates.

Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive and resistant tumor types, with high metastatic properties. Because of the lack of suitable chemotherapeutic agents for treatment, the 5-year survival rate of melanoma patients with regional and distant metastases is lower than 10%. Targeted tumor therapy that provides several promising results might be a good option for the treatment of malignant melanomas. Our goal was to develop novel melanoma-specific peptide-drug conjugates for targeted tumor therapy. Melanocortin-1-receptor (MC1R) is a cell surface receptor responsible for melanogenesis and it is overexpressed on the surface of melanoma cells, providing a good target. Its native ligand, α-MSH (α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone) peptide, or its derivatives, might be potential homing devices for this purpose. Therefore, we prepared three α-MSH derivative-daunomycin (Dau) conjugates and their in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities were compared. Dau has an autofluorescence property; therefore, it is suitable for preparing conjugates for in vitro (e.g., cellular uptake) and in vivo experiments. Dau was attached to the peptides via a non-cleavable oxime linkage that was applied efficiently in our previous experiments, resulting in conjugates with high tumor growth inhibition activity. The results indicated that the most promising conjugate was the compound in which Dau was connected to the side chain of Lys (Ac-SYSNleEHFRWGK(Dau=Aoa)PV-NH2). The highest cellular uptake by melanoma cells was demonstrated using the compound, with the highest tumor growth inhibition detected both on mouse (38.6% on B16) and human uveal melanoma (55% on OMC-1) cells. The effect of the compound was more pronounced than that of the free drug.

Discovery of a new class of valosine containing protein (VCP/P97) inhibitors for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common digestive tract malignant tumor and is the third cancer-related death worldwide. Valosine containing protein (VCP/p97) is a member of the AAA ATPase family, plays an important role in the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of misfolded proteins. Studies have shown that p97 is overexpressed in colorectal cancer and is a potential therapeutic target. Herein, a series of novel p97 inhibitors were designed, synthesized and biologically assayed. Based on the enzymatic results, structure-activity relationships (SAR) were discussed in detail. Some potent compounds were further evaluated to inhibit the proliferation of CRC cell lines HCT-116. The results showed that some compounds were active against CRC cell lines with IC50 values of less than 1 µM. Among the screened compounds, compound 10 exhibited good microsomal stabilities, pharmacokinetic properties and displayed strong antiproliferative activity against the HCT-116 cell line (0.4 µM). Furthermore, compound 10 exhibited strong in vivo anticancer efficacy in the human CRC (HCT-116) mouse xenograft model.

Preparation of a camptothecin analog FLQY2 self-micelle solid dispersion with improved solubility and bioavailability.

BACKGROUND: 7-p-trifluoromethylphenyl-FL118 (FLQY2) is a camptothecin analog with excellent antitumor efficacy against various solid tumors. However, its poor solubility and low bioavailability limited the development of the drug. Polyvinyl caprolactam-polyvinyl acetate-polyethylene glycol graft copolymer (Soluplus®), an emerging carrier for preparing solid dispersion (SD), encapsulated FLQY2 to circumvent the above limitations. RESULTS: In this project, FLQY2-SD was prepared by solvent evaporation method and self-assembled into micelles in aqueous solutions owing to the amphiphilic nature of Soluplus®. The physicochemical characterizations demonstrated that FLQY2 existed in a homogeneous amorphous form in SD and was rapidly dissolved. The micelles did not affect cytotoxicity or cellular uptake of FLQY2 in vitro, and the oral bioavailability was increased by 12.3-fold compared to the FLQY2 cyclodextrin suspension. The pharmacokinetics of FLQY2-SD showed rapid absorption, accumulation in the intestine, and slow elimination via fecal. Metabolite identification studies showed 14 novel metabolites were identified, including 12 phase I metabolites (M1-M12) and 2 phase II metabolites (M13-M14), of which M2 (oxidation after decarboxylation) and M7 (dioxolane ring cleavage) were the primary metabolites in the positive mode and negative mode, respectively. The tumor growth inhibition rate (TGI, 81.1%) of FLQY2-SD (1.5 mpk, p.o./QW) in tumor-bearing mice after oral administration was higher than that of albumin-bound Paclitaxel (15 mpk, i.v./Q4D) and Irinotecan hydrochloride (100 mpk, i.p./QW). CONCLUSIONS: The successful preparation, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics studies of FLQY2-SD showed that the solubility and bioavailability of FLQY2 were improved, which facilitated the further druggability development of FLQY2.

Design, synthesis and binding mode of interaction of novel small molecule o-hydroxy benzamides as HDAC3-selective inhibitors with promising antitumor effects in 4T1-Luc breast cancer xenograft model.

Histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) is one of the most promising targets to develop anticancer therapeutics. In continuation of our quest for selective HDAC3 inhibitors, a series of small molecules having o-hydroxy benzamide as the novel zinc binding group (ZBG) has been introduced for the first time that can be able to produce good HDAC3-selectivity over other HDACs. The most promising HDAC3 inhibitors, 11a and 12b, displayed promising in vitro anticancer activities with less toxicity to normal kidney cells. These compounds significantly upregulate histone acetylation and induce apoptosis with a G2/M phase arrest in B16F10 cells. Compound 11a exhibited potent antitumor efficacy in 4T1-Luc breast cancer xenograft mouse model in female Balb/c mice. It also showed significant tumor growth suppression with no general toxicity and extended survival rates post-tumor resection. It significantly induced higher ROS generation, leading to apoptosis. No considerable toxicity was noticed in major organs isolated from the compound 11a-treated mice. Compound 11a also induced the upregulation of acH3K9, acH4K12, caspase-3 and caspase-7 as analyzed by immunoblotting with treated tumor tissue. Overall, HDAC3 selective inhibitor 11a might be a potential lead for the clinical translation as an emerging drug candidate.

Design, synthesis and antitumor activity of a novel PEG-A6-conjugated irinotecan derivative.

A novel PEG-A6-conjugated irinotecan derivative 8 was designed and synthesized as antitumor agent by the PEGylation and A6-peptide modification of irinotecan. In vivo antitumor activity screening assay revealed that 8 exhibited better in vivo antiproliferation activity than irinotecan and its previous PEG-cRGD-conjugated derivative BGC0222 in MIA PaCa-2, NCI-H446, MDA-MB-231, HT-29 and NCI-N87 xenograft models, while the tumor of one in six mice in NCI-H446 assay and the tumors of two in six mice in MIA PaCa-2 assay completely subsided and disappeared within the 21-day period of 8-treatment, indicating that 8 should be a potential antitumor agent.

[In vivo anti-tumor activity of tumor-targeting pH-sensitive lipoprotein-mimic nanocarrier with paclitaxel loaded].

Paclitaxel( PTX) is used as a broad spectrum anti-tumor medicine. However,serious drawbacks restrict clinical application of PTX. In this study,we prepared tumor-targeting and pH-sensitive lipoprotein-mimic nanocarrier containing paclitaxel( BSALC/DOPE-PTX) to study the effective antitumor activity. The in vivo targeting ability of the nanocarrier in tumor bearing nude mice was evaluated by using a Kodak in vivo imaging system FX PRO. The in vivo anti-tumor activity was evaluated in MDA-MB-231 tumor bearing mice,and representative sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin( H&E),and examined by light microscopy. The results showed that DiR-loaded FA-BSA-LC/DOPE selectively targeted tumor,and had a relatively long residence in the tumor tissue. According to the in vivo anti-tumor activity study,FA-BSA-LC/DOPE-PTX exhibited an outstanding tumor inhibition effect with a tumor growth inhibition rate of 79.3%,and tumor tissue sections stained by hematoxylin and eosin( HE) showed severe necrosis areas and many dead cells with condensed nuclei in the FA-BSA-LC/DOPE-PTX group. Therefore,FA-BSA-LC/DOPE-PTX is a biocompatible,tumor-targeting and pH-sensitive lipoprotein-mimic nanocarrier,with a very marked anti-tumor activity in tumor-bearing mice in vivo.

Antitumor active trans­platinum complexes through metabolic stability and enhanced cellular accumulation.

Utilizing isoquinoline as a carrier ligand, we have evaluated the reactivity of selected trans­platinum planar amine (TPA) carboxylate compounds by varying the leaving carboxylate group (acetate, hydroxyacetate, and lactate) in an effort to optimize the cytotoxic and metabolic efficiency. To measure the pharmacological properties of these compounds, a combination of systematic biophysical and biological studies were carried out mainly involving substitution reaction with NAM (N-acetyl-methionine), effects on DNA structural perturbation, cytotoxicity, cellular accumulation, metabolic stability, and cell cycle effects. TPA compounds showed minimal losses in cytotoxic efficacy and outperformed cisplatin after pre-incubation with serum, while displaying a distinct micromolar cytotoxic activity with minimal DNA binding and unaltered cell cycle. Monitoring the TPA compounds with NAM suggests the following trend for the reactivity: hydroxyacetate > lactate > acetate. The same trend was seen for the cytotoxicity in tumor cells and DNA binding, while the rate of drug inactivation/protein binding in cells was not significantly different among these leaving groups. Thus, our results show superior cellular efficacy of TPA compounds and distinct micromolar cytotoxic activities different than cisplatin. Moreover, we found the TPA compounds had prolonged survival and decreased tumor burden compared to the control mice in a relevant human ovarian cancer mouse model with A2780 cells expressing luciferase. Therefore, we propose that further optimization of the basic TPA structure can give further enhanced in vivo activity and may eventually be translated into the development of clinically relevant non-traditional platinum drugs.

Anticancer Potential of a Synthetic Quinoline, 9IV-c, by Inducing Apoptosis in A549 Cell and In vivo BALB/c Mice Models.

BACKGROUND: In a previous work from the author of this study, the compound of 9IV-c, ((E)-2-(3,4- dimethoxystyryl)-6,7,8-trimethoxy-N-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)quinoline-4-amine) was synthesized, and the effects of potent activity on the multiple human tumor cell lines were evaluated considering the spindle formation together with the microtubule network. METHODS: Accordingly, cytotoxic activity, apoptotic effects, and the therapeutic efficiency of compound 9IV-c on A549 and C26 cell lines were investigated in this study. RESULTS: The compound 9IV-c demonstrated high cytotoxicity against A549 and C26 cell lines with IC50 = 1.66 and 1.21 µM, respectively. The flow cytometric analysis of the A549 cancer cell line treated with compound 9IVc showed that This compound induced cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and apoptosis. Western blotting analysis displayed that compound 9IV-c also elevated the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and increased the activation of caspase-9 and -3 but not caspase-8. CONCLUSION: These data presented that the intrinsic pathway was responsible for 9IV-c -induced cell apoptosis. In vivo studies demonstrated that treatment with the compound of 9IV-c at 10 mg/kg dose led to a decrease in tumor growth compared to the control group. It was found that there was not any apparent body weight loss in the period of treatment. Also, in the vital organs of the BALB/c mice, observable pathologic changes were not detected.

Design and discovery of novel dipeptide boronic acid ester proteasome inhibitors, an oral slowly-released prodrug for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM), the second most common hematological malignancy, is a disease characterized by a clonal expansion of malignant plasma cells that accumulate in the bone marrow. Ixazomib citrate was the first commercially available oral proteasome inhibitor for the treatment of MM. However, it immediately hydrolyzed into the active form on exposure to aqueous solution and so it was a pseudo prodrug. Herein, a series of dipeptide boronic acid esters as novel oral proteasome inhibitors were designed, synthesized and biologically investigated for the inhibition of the ß5 subunit of 20S proteasome. Based on the enzymatic results, structure-activity relationships (SAR) were discussed in detail. Some potent compounds were further evaluated to inhibit the proliferation of MM cell line RPMI-8226. The results showed that some compounds were active against RPMI-8226 with IC50 values of less than 10 nM. The solution stability showed that ixazomib citrate was completely hydrolyzed to its active form ixazomib within 2 min in the simulated gastric juice. However, among the screened compounds, prodrug 18u was stable enough in simulated gastric juice and simulated intestinal juice, and its hydrolysis rate was 59.7% and 3.6% after 2 h, respectively. In addition, 18u exhibited good microsome stabilities and pharmacokinetic properties and displayed strong antiproliferative activity against the RPMI-8226 cell line (5.6 nM). Furthermore, compound 18u exhibited strong in vivo anticancer efficacy in human MM (RPMI-8226) xenograft mouse model.

A systemically administered detoxified TLR4 agonist displays potent antitumor activity and an acceptable tolerance profile in preclinical models.

Bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are potent innate immunostimulants targeting the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), an attractive and validated target for immunostimulation in cancer therapy. Although LPS possess anti-tumor activity, toxicity issues prevent their systemic administration at effective doses in humans. We first demonstrated that LPS formulated in liposomes preserved a potent antitumor activity per se upon systemic administration in syngeneic models, and significantly enhance the antitumor activity of the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab in mice xenografted with the human RL lymphoma model. Liposomal encapsulation also allowed a 2-fold reduction in the induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines by LPS. Mice receiving an intravenous administration demonstrated a significant increase of neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages at the tumor site as well as an increase of macrophages in spleen. Further, we chemically detoxified LPS to obtain MP-LPS that was associated with a 200-fold decrease in the induction of proinflammatory cytokines. When encapsulated in a clinically approved liposomal formulation, toxicity, notably pyrogenicity (10-fold), was limited while the antitumor activity and immunoadjuvant effect were maintained. This improved tolerance profile of liposomal MP-LPS was associated with the preferential activation of the TLR4-TRIF pathway. Finally, in vitro studies demonstrated that stimulation with encapsulated MP-LPS reversed the polarization of M2 macrophages towards an M1 phenotype, and a phase 1 trial in healthy dogs validated its tolerance upon systemic administration up to very high doses (10µg/kg). Altogether, our results demonstrate the strong therapeutic potential of MPLPS formulated in liposomes as a systemically active anticancer agent, supporting its evaluation in patients with cancer.

Pithecellobium dulce induces apoptosis and reduce tumor burden in experimental animals via regulating pro-inflammatory cytokines and anti-apoptotic gene expression.

The present study demonstrates the efficacy of fruit extract of Pithecellobium dulce (FPD) against Dalton's lymphoma ascites (DLA) cell lines in vitro and in vivo (DLA induced ascitic and solid tumor). Administration of FPD induced apoptosis in DLA cells via p53 regulation both in vitro and in vivo. Cell viability was quantified by MTT assay. Apoptotic cells were determined by qualitative (staining methods) and quantitative analysis (Annexin-propidium iodide based flow cytometry). Expression of pro-apoptotic markers (Caspase 3, Caspase 9, and Bax) were markedly elevated, while expression of anti-apoptotic proteins (Bcl 2 and Bcl XL) were downregulated in tumor cells. FPD administration effectively reduced tumor burden, increased mean survival time via modulating NF-kB, and reduced the level of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1ß, GM-CSF and TNF-α). Phytochemical screening of FPD by GC/MS analysis divulged the presence of several novel bioactive chemical constituents. Further, bioactive components identified from extract were evaluated for drug-like properties by Lipinski rule of five and properties. Naringenin, nootkatone, and gallic acid showed good drug-like properties and good pharmacokinetic profiles compared to other bioactive constituents in the extract.

Bismuth Lipophilic Nanoparticles (BisBAL NP) Inhibit the Growth of Tumor Cells in a Mouse Melanoma Model.

AIM: The objective of this study was to analyze the antitumor effect of BisBAL NP in a mouse melanoma model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The antitumor activity of BisBAL NP on murine B16-F10 melanoma cells was determined both in vitro (PrestoBlue cell viability assay and Live/Dead fluorescence) and in vivo, in a mouse model, with the following 15-day treatments: BisBAL NP, negative control (PBS), and cell-death control (docetaxel; DTX). Mouse survival and weight, as well as the tumor volume, were recorded daily during the in vivo study. RESULTS: BisBAL NP were homogeneous in size (mean diameter, 14.7 nm) and bismuth content. In vitro, 0.1 mg/mL BisBAL NP inhibited B16-F10 cell growth stronger (88%) than 0.1 mg/mL DTX (82%) (*p<0.0001). In vivo, tumors in mice treated with BisBAL NP (50 mg/kg/day) or DTX (10 mg/kg/day) were 76% and 85% smaller than the tumors of negative control mice (*p<0.0001). The average weight of mice was 18.1 g and no statistically significant difference was detected among groups during the study. Alopecia was only observed in all DTX-treated mice. The survival rate was 100% for the control and BisBAL NP groups, but one DTX- treated mouse died at the end of the treatment period. The histopathological analysis revealed that exposure to BisBAL NP was cytotoxic for tumor tissue only, without affecting the liver or kidney. CONCLUSION: BisBAL NP decreased the tumor growing in a mouse melanoma model without secondary effects, constituting an innovative low-cost alternative to treat melanoma.

XS-2, a novel potent dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor, exhibits high in vitro and in vivo anti-breast cancer activity and low toxicity with the potential to inhibit the invasion and migration of triple-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer has become the most commonly diagnosed cancer, surpassing lung cancer, with 2.26 million new breast cancers worldwide in 2020. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop effective molecularly targeted therapeutic drugs to treat breast cancer. In this paper, we designed, synthesized and screened a novel thiophene-triazine derivative, XS-2, as a potent dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor for the treatment of breast cancer. Also, XS-2 was found to be potentially effective against triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in vitro during the investigation. We evaluated the in vitro inhibitory effect of XS-2 on 10 cancer cell lines by MTT and 6 kinases to investigated its in vivo antitumor activity in MCF-7 xenograft tumor-bearing BALB/c nude mice. In addition, the in vitro/in vivo toxicity to mice was also assessed by hemolytic toxicity, H&E staining and blood biochemical analysis. In order to investigate the antitumor mechanism of XS-2, a series of experiments were carried out in vitro/in vivo animal model and molecular biological levels such as the cell cycle and the apoptosis assay, real-time PCR, western blot, docking and molecular simulations analysis, etc. What's more, wound healing assay, Transwell and Western Blot were applied to explore the ability of XS-2 to inhibit the cell invasion and migration. The results showed that XS-2 exhibited strong antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. The inhibitory activities of XS-2 on ten cancer cell lines were ranging from 1.07 ± 0.11 to 0.002 ± 0.001 µM, which were 1565 times better than that of the lead compound GDC-0941, inhibitory activities against PI3Kα and mTOR kinases were 291.0 and 60.8 nM, respectively. Notably, XS-2 not only showed significant in vivo antitumor activity and low toxicity, with the tumor inhibition rate of 57.0 %, but also exhibited strong inhibitory in the expression of related proteins of PI3K pathway in tumor tissues. In addition, XS-2 significantly inhibited breast cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, and inhibited the migration and invasion ability of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. More than that, XS-2 could inhibit the increase of the expression levels of N-cadherin and vimentin upregulated by EGF and reversed the E-cadherin expression down regulated by EGF, resulting in inhibiting EMT in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. The results showed that XS-2 was expected to be successfully developed as a high-efficiency and low-toxicity breast cancer therapeutic drug with the potential to inhibit the invasion and migration of TNBC. This provides a new research idea for the treatment of TNBC, which is of great significance.

Homo-PROTAC mediated suicide of MDM2 to treat non-small cell lung cancer.

The dose-related adverse effects of MDM2‒P53 inhibitors have caused significant concern in the development of clinical safe anticancer agents. Herein we report an unprecedented homo-PROTAC strategy for more effective disruption of MDM2‒P53 interaction. The design concept is inspired by the capacity of sub-stoichiometric catalytic PROTACs enabling to degrade an unwanted protein and the dual functions of MDM2 as an E3 ubiquitin ligase and a binding protein with tumor suppressor P53. The new homo-PROTACs are designed to induce self-degradation of MDM2. The results of the investigation have shown that PROTAC 11a efficiently dimerizes MDM2 with highly competitive binding activity and induces proteasome-dependent self-degradation of MDM2 in A549 non-small cell lung cancer cells. Furthermore, markedly, enantiomer 11a-1 exhibits potent in vivo antitumor activity in A549 xenograft nude mouse model, which is the first example of homo-PROTAC with in vivo therapeutic potency. This study demonstrates the potential of the homo-PROTAC as an alternative chemical tool for tumorigenic MDM2 knockdown, which could be developed into a safe therapy for cancer treatment.

Water-soluble derivatives of evodiamine: Discovery of evodiamine-10-phosphate as an orally active antitumor lead compound.

10-Hydroxyevodiamine is a multitargeting antitumor lead compound with excellent in vitro activity. However, its in vivo antitumor potency is rather limited, which has hampered its further clinical development. To overcome this obstacle, a series of novel water-soluble derivatives of 10-hydroxyevodiamine were designed and synthesized. Most of them exhibited good to excellent antitumor activities against several cancer cell lines. In particular, phosphate derivative 9 was orally active and showed improved in vivo antitumor efficacy in HCT116 xenograft models. Further antitumor mechanism studies indicated that compound 9 acted by triple Top1/Top2/tubulin inhibition and induced apoptosis with G2/M cell cycle arrest. Taken together, this study extended the structure-activity relationship of evodiamine and identified phosphate derivative 9 as a promising antitumor lead compound.

Discovery of novel cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) dual inhibitors with potent in vitro and in vivo anticancer activity.

In the current study, we reported a series of novel 1-H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide-based inhibitors targeting histone deacetylase (HDAC) and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK). The representative compounds N-(4-((2-aminophenyl)carbamoyl)benzyl)-4-(2,6-dichlorobenzamido)-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide (7c) and N-(4-(2-((2-aminophenyl)amino)-2-oxoethyl)phenyl)-4-(2,6-dichlorobenzamido)-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide (14a) with potent antiproliferative activities towards five solid cancer cell lines, showed excellent inhibitory activities against HDAC2 (IC50 = 0.25 and 0.24 nM respectively) and CDK2 (IC50 = 0.30 and 0.56 nM respectively). In addition, compounds 7c and 14a significantly inhibited the migration of A375 and H460 cells. Further studies revealed that compounds 7c and 14a could arrest cell cycle in G2/M phase and promote apoptosis in A375, HCT116, H460 and Hela cells, which was associated with increasing the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. More importantly, compound 7c possessed favorable pharmacokinetic properties with the intraperitoneal bioavailability of 63.6% in ICR mice, and potent in vivo antitumor efficacy in the HCT116 xenograft model. Our study demonstrated that compound 7c provides a promising strategy for the treatment of malignant tumors.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel histone deacetylase1/2 (HDAC1/2) and cyclin-dependent Kinase2 (CDK2) dual inhibitors against malignant cancer.

In the current study, we have designed and synthesized a series of novel histone deacetylase1/2 (HDAC1/2) and cyclin-dependent kinase2 (CDK2) dual inhibitors by integrating purine-based pharmacophore into the recognition cap group of CS055. The representative compound 14d with excellent antiproliferative activities towards five solid cancer cells, showed potent inhibitory activities against HDAC1, HDAC2 and CDK2 with IC50 values of 70.7 nM, 23.1 nM and 0.80 µM, respectively. Besides, compound 14d could effectively block the cell cycle in the G2/M phase and induce apoptosis, which might be related to increasing intracellular ROS levels. Importantly, compound 14d exhibited desirable pharmacokinetic (PK) properties with the intraperitoneal bioavailability of 50.8% in ICR mice, and potent in vivo antitumor activity in the HCT116 xenograft model. Therefore, compound 14d could be considered as a promising lead compound for the development of multitargeting anticancer agents.

Design, Synthesis and Antitumor Assessment of Phenylureas Bearing 5-Fluoroindolin-2-one Moiety.

BACKGROUND: The development of novel antineoplastic agents remains highly desirable. OBJECTIVE: This study focuses on the design, synthesis, and antitumor evaluation of phenyl ureas bearing 5-fluoroindolin-2-one moiety. METHODS: Three sets of phenylureas were designed and synthesized and their antiproliferative ability was measured against four human carcinoma cell lines (Hela, Eca-109, A549, and MCF-7) via MTT assay. In vivo anticancer activity was further evaluated in xenograft models of human breast cancer (MCF-7). RESULTS: A total of twenty-one new compounds were synthesized and characterized by means of 1H and 13C NMR as well as HR-MS. Three sets of compounds (1a‒1c, 2a‒2c, and 3a‒3c) were initially constructed, and preliminary antiproliferative activities of these molecules were evaluated against Hela, Eca-109, A549 and MCF-7, highlighting the meta-substituted phenylureas (1a‒1c) as the most cytotoxic set. A series of meta-substituted phenylureas derivatives (1d‒1o) were then designed and synthesized for structure-activity relationship study. Most of the new compounds showed desirable cytotoxicity, among which compound 1g exhibited the most remarkable cytotoxic effects against the tested human cancer cells with IC50 values ranging from 1.47 to 6.79 µM. Further studies showed that compound 1g suppressed tumor growth in human breast cancer (MCF- 7) xenograft models without affecting the body weight of its recipients. CONCLUSION: In this study, twenty-one new compounds, containing the privileged structures of phenylurea and 5-fluoroindolin-2-one, were designed and synthesized. Subsequent structureactivity studies showed that 1g was the most bioactive antitumor agent among all tested compounds, hence a potentially promising lead compound once given further optimization.

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel benzodiazepine derivatives as anticancer agents through inhibition of tubulin polymerization in vitro and in vivo.

A series of novel structurally-related tubulin polymerization inhibitors based on benzodiazepine were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for anticancer activity. Extensive structure modifications were performed to investigate the detailed structure and activity relationships (SARs). Most compounds exhibited potent antiproliferative activity against a panel of cancer cell lines. Among these compounds, the optimal compound, 9a, possessed the most superior activity, including cytotoxicity against five cancer cell lines (IC50 = 6-15 nM) and inhibition of tubulin polymerization (IC50 = 1.65 ±â€¯0.11 µM). Mechanistic studies revealed that 9a could disrupt intracellular microtubule organization, arrest cell cycle at the G2/M phase and eventually induce cell apoptosis. Compound 9a exhibited good metabolic stability with a t1/2 of 161.2 min, which was much better than the reference compound CA-4. Moreover, the disodium salt of 9a, 9a-P, exhibited excellent in vivo antitumor activity in xenograft mice model with inhibitory rate of 89.3%, which was better than the reference compounds CA-4P (inhibitory rate: 52.8%) and Y-01P (inhibitory rate: 77.7%). Altogether, 9a could serve as a promising lead compound for the development of highly efficient anticancer agents.

Electrospun nanofibers for local anticancer therapy: Review of in vivo activity.

Currently, chemotherapy is the most common treatment for oncological diseases. Systemic administration of chemotherapeutics provides an easy and effective distribution of the active agents throughout the patient's body, however organs may be severely impaired by serious life-threatening side effects. In many oncological diseases, particularly solid tumors, the local application of chemotherapeutics would be advantageous. Recently, nanofibrous materials as local drug delivery systems have attracted much attention. They have considerable potential in the treatment of various cancers as they can provide a high concentration of the drug at the target site for a prolonged time, thereby lowering total exposure and adverse effects. The present review describes the specifics of drug delivery to the tumor microenvironment, basic characteristics of nanofibrous materials and their preparation, and comprehensively summarizes recent scientific reports concerning in vivo experiments with drug-loaded electrospun nanofibrous systems designed for local anticancer therapy.