Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Structurally Diverse Benzimidazole Scaffolds as Potential Chemotherapeutic Agents

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Barasa ◽  
Hari P. Vemana ◽  
Nirupama Surubhotla ◽  
Sin S. Ha ◽  
Jing Kong ◽  
...  

Background and Objective : Drug resistance and adverse effects are immense healthcare challenges in cancer therapy. Benzimidazole ring-based small molecules have been effective anticancer agents in drug development. In an effort to develop novel chemotherapeutics, we synthesized and assessed the anticancer and antibacterial activities of a small library of structurally unique benzimidazoles. Methods : The benzimidazoles were derived from indole, N-alkyl indole, fatty acid, and alpha-amino acid scaffolds providing a panel of diverse structures. The compounds were tested in three different cancer cell lines for cytotoxicity: HepG2 (human hepatocellular carcinoma), HeLa (human cervical carcinoma), and A549 (human lung carcinoma). Mechanism of cell death induced by benzimidazoles was evaluated using fluorescent dye-based apoptosis-necrosis assay, immunoblotting for active caspases, topoisomerase-II activity assay, and cell cycle assay. Results : Cell viability testing revealed that indole- and fatty acid-based benzimidazoles were most potent followed by the amino acid derivatives. Many compounds induced cytotoxicity in a concentration-dependent manner with cellular cytotoxicity (CC50) <20μM in the cell lines tested. Most compounds exhibited cytotoxicity via apoptosis through the intrinsic pathway. Inhibition of topoisomerase activity and cell cycle alterations were not the primary mechanisms of cytotoxicity. In addition, several compounds showed promising activity against S. aureus and S. epidermidis (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of as low as 0.04μmol/mL). Conclusion: The reported benzimidazole derivatives possess promising anticancer and antibacterial properties. Additionally, we discovered apoptosis to be the primary mechanism for cancer cell death induced by the tested benzimidazoles. Our findings suggest that further development of these scaffolds could provide drug leads towards new chemotherapeutics.

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1690
Author(s):  
Romeo Romagnoli ◽  
Filippo Prencipe ◽  
Paola Oliva ◽  
Barbara Cacciari ◽  
Jan Balzarini ◽  
...  

Two novel series of compounds based on the 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrothieno[2,3-c]pyridine and 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene molecular skeleton, characterized by the presence of a 3′,4′,5′-trimethoxyanilino moiety and a cyano or an alkoxycarbonyl group at its 2- or 3-position, respectively, were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for antiproliferative activity on a panel of cancer cell lines and for selected highly active compounds, inhibition of tubulin polymerization, and cell cycle effects. We have identified the 2-(3′,4′,5′-trimethoxyanilino)-3-cyano-6-methoxycarbonyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrothieno[2,3-c]pyridine derivative 3a and its 6-ethoxycarbonyl homologue 3b as new antiproliferative agents that inhibit cancer cell growth with IC50 values ranging from 1.1 to 4.7 μM against a panel of three cancer cell lines. Their interaction with tubulin at micromolar levels leads to the accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle and to an apoptotic cell death. The cell apoptosis study found that compounds 3a and 3b were very effective in the induction of apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. These two derivatives did not induce cell death in normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, suggesting that they may be selective against cancer cells. Molecular docking studies confirmed that the inhibitory activity of these molecules on tubulin polymerization derived from binding to the colchicine site.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 2108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuanming Zhang ◽  
Xiaoyu Tan ◽  
Jian Feng ◽  
Ning Ding ◽  
Yongpeng Li ◽  
...  

To discover new antiproliferative agents with high efficacy and selectivity, a new series of 1-aryl-3-{4-[(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)thio]phenyl}urea derivatives (7a–7t) were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against A549, HCT-116 and PC-3 cancer cell lines in vitro. Most of the target compounds demonstrated significant antiproliferative effects on all the selective cancer cell lines. Among them, the target compound, 1-[4-chloro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-3-{4-{{[3-methyl-4-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)pyridin-2-yl]methyl}thio}phenyl}urea (7i) was identified to be the most active one against three cell lines, which was more potent than the positive control with an IC50 value of 1.53 ± 0.46, 1.11 ± 0.34 and 1.98 ± 1.27 μM, respectively. Further cellular mechanism studies confirmed that compound 7i could induce the apoptosis of A549 cells in a concentration-dependent manner and elucidated compound 7i arrests cell cycle at G1 phase by flow cytometry analysis. Herein, the studies suggested that the 1-aryl-3-{4-[(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)thio]phenyl}urea skeleton might be regarded as new chemotypes for designing effective antiproliferative agents.


Antioxidants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reetta J. Holmila ◽  
Stephen A. Vance ◽  
S. Bruce King ◽  
Allen W. Tsang ◽  
Ravi Singh ◽  
...  

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used nanomaterials in both commercial and clinical biomedical applications, due to their antibacterial properties. AgNPs are also being explored for the treatment of cancer in particular in combination with ionizing radiation. In this work, we studied the effects of AgNPs and ionizing radiation on mitochondrial redox state and function in a panel of lung cell lines (A549, BEAS-2B, Calu-1 and NCI-H358). The exposure to AgNPs caused cell cycle arrest and decreased cell proliferation in A549, BEAS-2B and Calu-1, but not in NCI-H358. The mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) and protein oxidation increased in a time- and dose-dependent manner in the more sensitive cell lines with the AgNP exposure, but not in NCI-H358. While ionizing radiation also induced changes in the mitochondrial redox profiles, in general, these were not synergistic with the effects of AgNPs with the exception of NCI-H358 and only at a higher dose of radiation.


Cancers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mouna Sdiri ◽  
Xiangmin Li ◽  
William Du ◽  
Safia El-Bok ◽  
Yi-Zhen Xie ◽  
...  

The extensive applications of Cynomorium species and their rich bioactive secondary metabolites have inspired many pharmacological investigations. Previous research has been conducted to examine the biological activities and numerous interesting pharmaceutical activities have been reported. However, the antitumor activities of these species are unclear. To understand the potential anticancer activity, we screened Cynomorium coccineum and Cynomorium songaricum using three different extracts of each species. In this study, the selected extracts were evaluated for their ability to decrease survival rates of five different cancer cell lines. We compared the cytotoxicity of the three different extracts to the anticancer drug vinblastine and one of the most well-known medicinal mushrooms Amaurederma rude. We found that the water and alcohol extracts of C. coccineum at the very low concentrations possessed very high capacity in decreasing the cancer cells viability with a potential inhibition of tumorigenesis. Based on these primitive data, we subsequently tested the ethanol and the water extracts of C. coccineum, respectively in in vitro and in vivo assays. Cell cycle progression and induction of programmed cell death were investigated at both biological and molecular levels to understand the mechanism of the antitumor inhibitory action of the C. coccineum. The in vitro experiments showed that the treated cancer cells formed fewer and smaller colonies than the untreated cells. Cell cycle progression was inhibited, and the ethanol extract of C. coccineum at a low concentration induced accumulation of cells in the G1 phase. We also found that the C. coccineum’s extracts suppressed viability of two murine cancer cell lines. In the in vivo experiments, we injected mice with murine cancer cell line B16, followed by peritoneal injection of the water extract. The treatment prolonged mouse survival significantly. The tumors grew at a slower rate than the control. Down-regulation of c-myc expression appeared to be associated with these effects. Further investigation showed that treatment with C. coccineum induced the overexpression of the tumor suppressor Foxo3 and other molecules involved in inducing autophagy. These results showed that the C. coccineum extract exerts its antiproliferative activity through the induction of cell death pathway. Thus, the Cynomorium plants appear to be a promising source of new antineoplastic compounds.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoang Le Tuan Anh ◽  
Phuong Thao Tran ◽  
Do Thi Thao ◽  
Duong Thu Trang ◽  
Nguyen Hai Dang ◽  
...  

Degalactotigonin (1) and three other steroidal compounds solasodine (2), O-acetyl solasodine (3), and soladulcoside A (4) were isolated from the methanolic extract of Solanum nigrum, and their chemical structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses. The isolated compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against human pancreatic cancer cell lines (PANC1 and MIA-PaCa2) and lung cancer cell lines (A549, NCI-H1975, and NCI-H1299). Only degalactotigonin (1) showed potent cytotoxicity against these cancer cell lines. Compound 1 induced apoptosis in PANC1 and A549 cells. Further study on its mechanism of action in PANC1 cells demonstrated that 1 significantly inhibited EGF-induced proliferation and migration in a concentration-dependent manner. Treatment of PANC1 cells with degalactotigonin induced cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. Compound 1 induced downregulation of cyclin D1 and upregulation of p21 in a time- and concentration-dependent manner and inhibited EGF-induced phosphorylation of EGFR, as well as activation of EGFR downstream signaling molecules such as Akt and ERK.


Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (11) ◽  
pp. 2599-2599
Author(s):  
Patricia Maiso ◽  
Enrique M. Ocio ◽  
Mercedes Garayoa ◽  
Mark A. Pearson ◽  
Atanasio Pandiella ◽  
...  

Abstract Multiple myeloma (MM) represents an incurable disease for which development of new therapies is required. Here we report the effect on myeloma cells of AEW541, a new small molecule, belonging to the pyrrolo[2,3-d] pyrimidine class, identified as inhibitor of the IGF-1R in vitro kinase activity. AEW541 showed a potent antimyeloma activity (IC50 <4.5 μM) on MM cell lines both sensitive (MM1S, U266, OPM2, RPMI8226) and resistant (MM1R and U266LR7) to conventional chemotherapeutic agents. In fresh cells from five MM patients a marked antitumor activity was confirmed. AEW541 showed a synergistic effect with dexamethasone and lenalidomide, while it was additive with melphalan and bortezomib. Moreover the triple combination of AEW541, bortezomib and dexamethasone showed even higher anti-MM activity. Gene expression profiles of MM1S cells identified a total of 967 genes to be significantly deregulated (transcriptional changes in gene expression of 2-fold or greater) by treatment with AEW541. The classification of these genes according to functional categories indicated that 3.5% were involved in apoptosis/responses to stress and 13% in the control of cell cycle/proliferation. By Western analyses, we observed that AEW541 affected genes involved in cell cycle and cell death pathways. AEW541 blocked cell cycle progression, and this was accompanied by p27, up-regulation and pRb, CCND1, CCNA and CCNE downregulation. AEW541 induced cell death through an increase in the mitochondrial outer membrane permeability and provoked DNA fragmentation. AEW541 induced apoptosis and at late time points, also activated caspases 8,9 and 3. The pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK only slightly decreased the sensitivity to AEW541. In addition, AEW541 stimulated a caspase-independent pathway, through the release of AIF and Endonuclease G from the mitochondria. It is therefore conceivable that both caspase dependent and independent pathways are activated by AEW541 in MM cells, although the effect of AEW541 on cell cycle arrest is an earlier and more potent event. Finally, AEW541 was able to overcome the protective effect that confers IL-6, IGF-1 and BMSCs to myeloma cells in a dose dependent manner. All these data indicate that AEW541 could be a useful drug for the treatment of MM patients, particularly in combination with other novel agents such as bortezomib or lenalidomide together with dexamethasone.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 2046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneta Grabarska ◽  
Krystyna Skalicka-Woźniak ◽  
Michał Kiełbus ◽  
Magdalena Dmoszyńska-Graniczka ◽  
Paulina Miziak ◽  
...  

Naturally occurring coumarins are bioactive compounds widely used in Asian traditional medicine. They have been shown to inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis, and/or enhance the cytotoxicity of currently used drugs against a variety of cancer cell types. The aim of our study was to examine the antiproliferative activity of different linear furanocoumarins on human rhabdomyosarcoma, lung, and larynx cancer cell lines, and dissolve their cellular mechanism of action. The coumarins were isolated from fruits of Angelica archangelica L. or Pastinaca sativa L., and separated using high-performance counter-current chromatography (HPCCC). The identity and purity of isolated compounds were confirmed by HPLC-DAD and NMR analyses. Cell viability and toxicity assessments were performed by means of methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays, respectively. Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle progression were measured using flow cytometry analysis. qPCR method was applied to detect changes in gene expression. Linear furanocoumarins in a dose-dependent manner inhibited proliferation of cancer cells with diverse activity regarding compounds and cancer cell type specificity. Imperatorin (IMP) exhibited the most potent growth inhibitory effects against human rhabdomyosarcoma and larynx cancer cell lines owing to inhibition of the cell cycle progression connected with specific changes in gene expression, including CDKN1A. As there are no specific chemotherapy treatments dedicated to laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and rhabdomyosarcoma, and IMP seems to be non-toxic for normal cells, our results could open a new direction in the search for effective anti-cancer agents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 969-983
Author(s):  
Lijuan Zhu ◽  
Peng Lu ◽  
Lei Gong ◽  
Cheng Lu ◽  
Mengli Li ◽  
...  

Background: NEDD8 activating enzyme (NAE) plays a critical role in various cellular functions in carcinomas. The selective inhibition of NAE could mediate the rate of ubiquitination and the subsequent degradation of proteins associated with cancer so as to achieve the purpose of treatment. Objective: In this article, we decided to study the synthesis and screening of 4-amino substituted 2H-chromen-2-one derivatives against cancer cell lines, specifically the human pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC-3. Methods: After synthesis of twenty targeted compounds, we evaluated their anti-proliferative activity against six cancer cell lines, cytotoxicity against three normal cell lines through MTT assay, and hemolysis to screen out the candidate compound, which was further conducted drug-like physical property measurement, target confirmation by enzyme-based experiment, cell apoptosis, and synergistic effect research. Results: Starting from intermediates 4 and 5, several new 4-amino substituted 2H-chromen-2-one derivatives (9-28) were synthesized and evaluated for their cell activities using six cancer cell lines. We performed tests of cytotoxicity, hemolysis, ATP-dependent NAE inhibition in the enzyme- based system, apoptosis, and synergistic effect in BxPC-3 cells against the best candidate compound 21. Conclusion: Based on these results, we found that compound 21 inhibited NAE activity in an ATP-dependent manner in the enzyme-based system, induced apoptosis in BxPC-3 cells, and synergized with bortezomib on BxPC-3 cell growth inhibition. Additionally, it had low toxicity with reasonable Log P-value and water solubility.


MedChemComm ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 636-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongtao Du ◽  
Hongling Gu ◽  
Na Li ◽  
Junru Wang

A series of novel bivalent β-carbolines were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-proliferative activities on a panel of cancer cell lines, apoptosis induction and cell cycle effects.


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