Development of Novel 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydroquinoline Scaffolds as Potent NF-κB Inhibitors and Cytotoxic Agents

1,2,3,4-Tetrahydroquinolines have been identified as the most potent inhibitors of LPS-induced NF-κB transcriptional activity. To discover new molecules of this class with excellent activities, we designed and synthesized a series of novel derivatives of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines (4a-g, 5a-h, 6a-h, and 7a-h) and bioevaluated their in vitro activity against human cancer cell lines (NCI-H23, ACHN, MDA-MB-231, PC-3, NUGC-3, and HCT 15). Among all synthesized scaffolds, 6g exhibited the most potent inhibition (53 times that of a reference compound) of LPS-induced NF-κB transcriptional activity and the most potent cytotoxicity against all evaluated human cancer cell lines.