Design and Synthesis of Potent in Vitro and in Vivo Anticancer Agents Based on 1-(3′,4′,5′-Trimethoxyphenyl)-2-Aryl-1H-Imidazole

A novel series of tubulin polymerization inhibitors, based on the 1-(3',4',5'-trimethoxyphenyl)-2-aryl-1H-imidazole scaffold and designed as cis-restricted combretastatin A-4 analogues, was synthesized with the goal of evaluating the effects of various patterns of substitution on the phenyl at the 2-position of the imidazole ring on biological activity. A chloro and ethoxy group at the meta- and para-positions, respectively, produced the most active compound in the series (4o), with IC50 values of 0.4-3.8 nM against a panel of seven cancer cell lines. Except in HL-60 cells, 4o had greater antiproliferative than CA-4, indicating that the 3'-chloro-4'-ethoxyphenyl moiety was a good surrogate for the CA-4 B-ring. Experiments carried out in a mouse syngenic model demonstrated high antitumor activity of 4o, which significantly reduced the tumor mass at a dose thirty times lower than that required for CA-4P, which was used as a reference compound. Altogether, our findings suggest that 4o is a promising anticancer drug candidate that warrants further preclinical evaluation

Identification of a novel NAMPT inhibitor by combinatorial click chemistry and chemical refinement

none11noThe identification of compounds able to inhibit the NAD salvage pathway is experiencing a growing popularity as it has been proposed to be a novel target for antitumoral and anti-inflammatory drugs. In this manuscript, we used the copper-catalyzed [3+2] cycloaddition between azides and alkynes (click chemistry) to identify novel NAMPT inhibitors with a triazole-containing tail group. 720 compounds were synthesized in the first round, allowing the identification of 17 hit compounds. The second round of optimization brought about the discovery of compound 43 which displayed a cytotoxicity of 20 nM on neuroblastoma cancer cells and an inhibition of NAMPT of 114 nM.restrictedTheeramunkong, S; Galli, U.; Grolla, A.A.; Caldarelli, A.; Travelli, C.; Massarotti, A.; Troiani, M.P.; Alisi, M.A.; Orsomando, G.; Genazzani, A.A.; Tron, G.C.Theeramunkong, S; Galli, U.; Grolla, A. A.; Caldarelli, A.; Travelli, C.; Massarotti, A.; Troiani, M. P.; Alisi, M. A.; Orsomando, Giuseppe; Genazzani, A. A.; Tron, G. C