A series of nonsecosteroidal vitamin D3 receptor (VDR) ligands with phenyl-pyrrolyl pentane skeleton were synthesized for cancer therapy. In contrast to 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (Calcitriol), these VDR ligands exhibited anti-proliferative activity without inducing hypercalcemia. These compounds were evaluated for vitamin D3-agonistic ability and anti-proliferative activity in vitro. Among them, compounds 5k and 5i exhibited equivalent vitamin D3-agonistic activity compared with Calcitriol. Meanwhile, compound 5k displayed promising inhibiting profile against MCF-7, HepG-2 and Caco-2 with IC50 values of 0.00586 μM, 0.176 μM, and 1.01 μM (Calcitriol: 5.58 μM, 80.83 μM and 4.46 μM) respectively. Compound 5i inhibited proliferation of PC-3 with IC50 value of 0.00798 μM (Calcitriol: 17.25 μM). Additionally, neither of these compounds significantly elevated serum calcium in rats.
Keywords: Anti-proliferation; Cancer therapy; Hypercalcemia; Nonsecosteroid; Phenyl-pyrrolyl pentane skeleton; VDR; Vitamin D(3)-agonistic activity.
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