Novel quinazoline-based dual EGFR/c-Met inhibitors overcoming drug resistance for the treatment of NSCLC: Design, synthesis and anti-tumor activity.

Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR TKIs) have demonstrated the ability to impede tumor cell proliferation by suppressing EGFR expression. Nonetheless, patients undergoing treatment may acquire resistance, which may occur through an EGFR-dependent (such as T790M mutation) or an EGFR-independent (such as c-Met amplification) manner. Therefore, developing dual-target inhibitors might present a potential avenue for addressing treatment-acquired resistance in patients. Herein, we designed, synthesized, and screened several novel 4-phenoxyquinazoline derivatives, aiming to identify a potent dual EGFR/c-Met inhibitor for the treatment of NSCLC, among which H-22 emerged as the most promising candidate exhibiting significant antitumor properties. Moreover, we assessed the in vitro inhibitory effect of H-22 on EGFR kinase and c-Met kinase in five cancer cell lines. In addition, a series of functional experiments (cell cycle, apoptosis assays, in vitro/in vivo animal model, etc.) were conducted to further investigate the anti-tumor mechanisms of H-22. The present study revealed that H-22 exhibited strong antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, H-22 exhibited anti-proliferative activity (2.27-3.35 µM) similar to Afatinib against all five cancer cells, with inhibitory functions against EGFRWT, EGFRL858R/T790M, and c-Met kinases at a concentration of 64.8, 305.4 and 137.4 nM, respectively. Cell cycle analysis indicated that the antiproliferative activity of H-22 was associated with its ability to cause G2/M arrest. Furthermore, in vivo data showed that H-22 could inhibit tumor growth in our xenograft models and induce apoptosis. Collectively, our findings uncovered that H-22 is a novel dual EGFR and c-Met inhibitor and a prospective anti-tumor therapeutic drug.

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of antitumor activity of Mobocertinib derivatives, a third-generation EGFR inhibitor.

Mobocertinib, as a structural analog of the third generation TKI Osimertinib, can selectively act on the EGFRex20 mutation. We have structurally modified Mobocertinib to obtain new EGFR inhibitors. In this paper, we chose Mobocertinib as a lead compound for structural modification to investigate the effect of Mobocertinib derivatives on EGFRT790M mutation. We designed and synthesized 63 Mobocertinib derivatives by structural modification using the structural similarity strategy and the bioelectronic isoarrangement principle. Then, we evaluated the in vitro antitumor activity of the 63 Mobocertinib derivatives and found that the IC50 of compound H-13 against EGFRL858R/T790M mutated H1975 cells was 3.91 µM, and in further kinase activity evaluation, the IC50 of H-13 against EGFRL858R/T790M kinase was 395.2 nM. In addition, the preferred compound H-13 was able to promote apoptosis of H1975 tumor cells and block the proliferation of H1975 cells in the G0/G1 phase; meanwhile, it was able to significantly inhibit the migratory ability of H1975 tumor cells and inhibit the growth of H1975 cells in a time-concentration-dependent manner. In the in vivo anti-tumor activity study, the preferred compound H-13 had no obvious toxicity to normal mice, and the tumor inhibition effect on H1975 cell-loaded nude mice was close to that of Mobocertinib. Finally, molecular dynamics simulations showed that the binding energy between compound H-13 and 3IKA protein was calculated to be -162.417 ± 14.559 kJ/mol. In summary, the preferred compound H-13 can be a potential third-generation EGFR inhibitor.

Discovery of novel 4-arylamino-quinazoline derivatives as EGFRL858R/T790M inhibitors with the potential to inhibit the non-small cell lung cancers.

Three series of quinazoline derivatives (7a-j, 8a-o, 9a-l) were designed and synthesized as EGFRL858R/T790M inhibitors. Series 7a-j and 8a-o are urea and thiourea derivatives while category 9a-l contain the Michael receptor active warhead. Most of the compounds exhibited excellent anti-proliferative activity in vitro against several cancer cell lines, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines A549 and H1975, among which 14 compounds had strong antiproliferative activity against A549 and H1975 cancer cells. What's more, they also showed moderate to excellent kinase inhibitory activity against EGFRWT and EGFRL858R/T790M. 8o exhibited the best kinase inhibitory activity with IC50 values of 0.8, 2.7 nM against EGFRWT and EGFRL858R/T790M, respectively. Moreover, AO single staining and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining results also indicated that both 8o and 9b significantly induced apoptosis in A549 cells. 8o arrested the cell cycle at S phase and 9b arrested the cell cycle at G1 phase.

T6496 targeting EGFR mediated by T790M or C797S mutant: machine learning, virtual screening and bioactivity evaluation study.

Acquired resistance to EGFR is a major impediment in lung cancer treatment, highlighting the urgent need to discover novel compounds to overcome EGFR drug resistance. In this study, we utilized in silico methods and bioactivity evaluation for drug discovery to identify novel active anticancer agents targeting EGFRT790M/L858R and EGFRT790M/C797S/L858R. Firstly, we employed ROC-guided machine learning to retrieve nearly 7,765 compounds from a collection of three libraries (comprising over 220,000 compounds). Next, virtual screening, cluster analysis, and binding model analysis were employed to identify six potential compounds. Additionally, the kinase assay revealed that these six compounds demonstrated higher sensitivity to EGFR than c-Met. Among these compounds, T6496 inhibited both EGFRT790M/L858R and EGFRT790M/C797S/L858R kinases, with an IC50 of 3.30 and 8.72 µM. Furthermore, we evaluated the antitumor effects of the six selected compounds, and compound T6496 exhibited the strongest anticancer activity against H1975 cell lines, with an IC50 value of 2.7 µM. These results suggest that T6496 may mitigate EGFR resistance caused by T790M or C797S mutations. Moreover, the AO staining assay, JC-1 staining, ROS experiment and hemolytic toxicity evaluation revealed that T6496 could induce apoptosis in H1975 cell lines in a time-dependent and concentration-dependent manner, and is a potential compound for further structural optimization.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

ROC guided machine learning, virtual screening and bioevaluation was applied to discover six hit compounds for overcoming EGFR resistance mediated by T790M or C797S.The promising compound T6496 could both inhibit EGFR^T790M/L858R and EGFR^{T790M/C797S/L858R}, with an IC₅₀ of 3.30 and 8.72 µM.In addition, T6496 and AO-365/43489452 show excellent anticancer activity even better than AZD9291.AO staining assay, JC-1 staining, and ROS experiment revealed that compounds T6496 could induce apoptosis in H1975 cell lines in a time-dependent and concentration-dependent manner.

Virtual Screening, Molecular Dynamics Simulation, and Bioactivity Assessment Validate T13074 as a Dual-Target EGFR/c-Met Inhibitor.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to identify dual-target inhibitors against EGFR/c-Met through virtual screening, dynamic simulation, and biological activity evaluation. This endeavor is aimed at overcoming the challenge of drug resistance induced by L858R/T790M mutants. METHODS: Active structures were gathered to construct sets of drug molecules. Next, property filtering was applied to the drug structures within the compound library. Active compounds were then identified through virtual screening and cluster analysis. Subsequently, we conducted MTT antitumor activity evaluation and kinase inhibition assays for the active compounds to identify the most promising candidates. Furthermore, AO staining and JC-1 assays were performed on the selected compounds. Ultimately, the preferred compounds underwent molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation with the EGFR and c-Met proteins, respectively. RESULT: The IC50 of T13074 was determined as 2.446 µM for EGFRL858R/T790M kinase and 7.401 nM for c-Met kinase, underscoring its potential in overcoming EGFRL858R/T790M resistance. Additionally, T13074 exhibited an IC50 of 1.93 µM on the H1975 cell. Results from AO staining and JC-1 assays indicated that T13074 induced tumor cell apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. Notably, the binding energy between T13074 and EGFR protein was found to be -90.329 ± 16.680 kJ/mol, while the binding energy with c-Met protein was -139.935 ± 17.414 kJ/mol. CONCLUSION: T13074 exhibited outstanding antitumor activity both in vivo and in vitro, indicating its potential utility as a dual-target EGFR/c-Met inhibitor. This suggests its promising role in overcoming EGFR resistance induced by the L858R/T790M mutation.

Pyrrole-containing hybrids as potential anticancer agents: An insight into current developments and structure-activity relationships.

Cancer poses a significant threat to human health. Therefore, it is urgent to develop potent anti-cancer drugs with excellent inhibitory activity and no toxic side effects. Pyrrole and its derivatives are privileged heterocyclic compounds with significant diverse pharmacological effects. These compounds can target various aspects of cancer cells and have been applied in clinical settings or are undergoing clinical trials. As a result, pyrrole has emerged as a promising drug scaffold and has been further probed to get novel entities for the treatment of cancer. This article reviews recent research progress on anti-cancer drugs containing pyrrole. It focuses on the mechanism of action, biological activity, and structure-activity relationships of pyrrole derivatives, aiming to assist in designing and synthesizing innovative pyrrole-based anti-cancer compounds.

ICT-modulated NIR water-soluble fluorescent probe with large Stokes shift for selective detection of cysteine in living cells and zebrafish.

The fluorescent probes with good water-solubility, long-wavelength emission and large Stokes shift are greatly desirable for in vivo detection. Herein, we designed a novel 1,8-naphthalimide-based near-infrared (NIR) optical and fluorescent probe (NTC) for sensing cysteine (Cys). Using acrylate as the recognition site, the probe demonstrated high selectivity and sensitivity for Cys with a low detection limit (0.093 µM) in aqueous buffer solution due to the excellent water-solubility. Upon the reaction with Cys, the recovery of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) in the probe led to about 40-fold fluorescence enhancement. Furthermore, the reaction result was investigated by 1H NMR, and HRMS analyses, and the sensing mechanism was validated by quantum calculations. Finally, NTC was applied to image exogenous and endogenous Cys in HeLa cells and zebrafish selectively, implying that the probe possessed great potential application in biological fluorescence sensing.