Potent combretastatin A-4 analogs containing 1,2,4-triazole: Synthesis, antiproliferative, anti-tubulin activity, and docking study
- Eur J Med Chem. 2019 Dec 1:183:111697. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.111697.
- 1. Medicinal Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Minia University, Minia, Egypt; Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Deraya University, Minia, Egypt.
- 2. Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, College of Clinical Pharmacy, Albaha University, Albaha, Saudi Arabia.
- 3. VACSERA-EGYPT, Cairo, Egypt.
- 4. Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, College of Clinical Pharmacy, Albaha University, Albaha, Saudi Arabia; Medicinal Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Minia University, Minia, Egypt. Electronic address: [email protected].
A series of cis restricted 1,2,4-triazole analogs of combretastatin A-4 (CA-4) were designed and synthesized. The antiproliferative activity of these compounds was measured on hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2, leukemia HL-60, and breast Cancer MCF-7 cell lines. The obtained results showed a substantial ability of the synthesized anilides to inhibit tumor growth. On HepG2 cells, 5o and 5r showed potent IC50 values of 0.10 and 0.04 μM, respectively. While on HL-60 cells, the IC50 values were 0.004 and 0.01 μM for 5b and 5i, respectively. The inhibitory activity of tubulin polymerization was evaluated on HepG2 cells. The anilide 5r showed a remarkable tubulin inhibition compared to CA-4. Moreover, flow cytometry studies showed that HepG2 cells treated with the most potent compounds 5b and 5r were arrested in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. This effect was accompanied by cellular Apoptosis and activation of Caspase-3. Molecular modeling showed several hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions with several important Amino acids inside the colchicine binding site of tubulin.