Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel pyrazinone derivatives as PI3K/HDAC dual inhibitors.

PI3Ks and HDACs play essential roles in the occurrence and progression of leukemia. Herein, a series of novel pyrazin-2(1H)-one derivatives were rationally designed and synthesized as novel dual PI3K and HDAC inhibitors based on scaffold replacement and heterozygous strategies. Most of the target compounds showed potent inhibitory potency to PI3Kα and HDAC6. Especially, compound 9q displayed PI3Kα and HDAC6 inhibitory with IC50 values of 372 nM and 4.5 nM, and anti-proliferative activity against MV4-11 cells with IC50 value of 0.093 ± 0.012 µM. Further mechanistic studies revealed that 9q induced apoptosis, arrested the cell cycle in the G2/M phase, promoted the acetylation of α-tubulin, and blocked the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signal way in MV4-11 cells. All the results demonstrated that 9q was a promising lead candidate for further development of novel PI3K/HDAC dual inhibitors for leukemia treatment.