Flavone-based arylamides as potential anticancers: Design, synthesis and in vitro cell-based/cell-free evaluations

Eur J Med Chem. 2020 Feb 1:187:111965. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.111965. Epub 2019 Dec 13.

Abstract

Several arylamide-based antiproliferative agents are known and some of them are currently FDA-approved anticancer drugs. Provoked by the need to fill the existing room with new drugs, 31 compounds constituting a series of flavone-based arylamide derivatives were synthesized and biologically evaluated. Towards extensive evaluation, sixty diverse cancer cell lines representing nine cancer diseases of various origins have been used for evaluation of their efficacy, spectrum and potency. Two compounds 2aw and 2ax emerged as effective, broad-spectrum and potent anticancer agents that outperformed masitinibt and imatininb, which are FDA-approved anticancer drugs. Kinases profiling as possible targets for the potent compound 2aw showed that it might be a hit compound offering a starting point to develop inhibitors of STE20/GCK-IV kinase family members including HGK, TNIK and MINK1 kinases. Mechanistic study showed that compounds 2aw triggers cell cycle arrest in HT29 colon cancer cells. In conclusion, this work presents compound 2aw as a new broad-spectrum anticancer agent for further development of promising treatment of diverse cancers.

Keywords: Anticancer agents; Arylamides; Flavones; HGK kinase; Hybrid compounds; Imatininb; Kinase inhibitors; MINK1 kinase; Masitinib; STE20 kinases; TNIK kinase.

MeSH terms

  • Amides / chemical synthesis
  • Amides / chemistry
  • Amides / pharmacology*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemical synthesis
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cell Cycle Checkpoints / drug effects
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Drug Design*
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Flavones / chemistry
  • Flavones / pharmacology*
  • HT29 Cells
  • Humans
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Molecular Structure
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Amides
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Flavones
  • flavone