Design, synthesis, antitumor, and VEGFR-2 inhibition activities of novel 4-anilino-2-vinyl-quinazolines: Molecular modeling studies

The antitumor activity of newly synthesized 4-anilino-2-vinylquinazolines 8a-r was measured comparable to sorafenib as a standard drug. The 2-vinylquinazolines 8a-r were evaluated for their in vitro antitumor activity. The most active antitumor agents were subjected to in vitro VEGFR-2 inhibition and apoptotic inducing assay. Compounds 8 h, 8 l, and 8r showed potential antitumor activities with IC₅₀ values of 4.92-14.37 μM relative to the reference drug, sorafenib (IC₅₀ values of 5.47-9.18 μM). Compound 8 h possessed potential VEGFR-2 inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 60.27 nM) compared to standard drug sorafenib (IC₅₀ = 55.43 nM), whereas compound 8 l showed moderate inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 93.50 nM). The most active compound, 8 h, exhibited total Apoptosis with 36.24% on MCF-7 cells, more than the apoptotic effect provoked by sorafenib (32.46%) and the cell cycle arrested at a G1/S phase. Compound 8 h, a potent VEGFR-2 inhibitor, was docked into the VEGFR-2 binding pocket, where this compound showed binding interaction similar to co-crystallized inhibitor sorafenib.