RESUMO
Peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase Pin1 is over-expressed in prostate cancer cells and the level of expression correlates with the malignancy grade and prognosis in patients. In this work, twenty-one 2-(1H-benzimidazol-2-ylthio) acetic acid derivatives were designed and prepared with the aid of the crystal structure of Pin1 and our previous work. The chemical structures of the target compounds were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, ESI-MS and IR. The inhibitory activity of compounds 6a-6i and 13a-13i against Pin1 were determined using a protease-coupled assay. The results indicated that twenty compounds were significantly superior to the positive control drug Juglone, and 6g, 6h and 13i exhibited the most potent Pin1 inhibitory activity, with IC50 values at the sub-micromolar level. The in vitro anti-proliferative activities of these analogs were evaluated by the MTT assay and several showed a moderate effect in human prostate cancer PC-3 cells. Molecular docking studies demonstrated that both the benzimidazole skeleton and the thioacetic acid fragment were indispensable for the compounds to interact with key residues in the catalytic domain of Pin1.