Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of PARP-1/PI3K dual-target inhibitors / 中国药科大学学报

@#Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors can increase the sensitivity of tumor cells to Poly ADP-ribose polymerase-1 (PARP-1) inhibitors. Therefore, the simultaneous inhibition of the PARP-1 and PI3K activities are expected to overcome the drug resistance of PARP-1 inhibitors.In our previous work, two compounds XW-1 and WZ-1 with excellent activities against PARP-1 and PI3K were obtained with the limitation to further study due to their poor water solubility.Therefore, XW-1 and WZ-1 were chosen as lead compounds to optimize their solubility by introducing a salt-forming site via a urea group, and 11 novel compounds were designed and synthesized. The structure of all target compounds was confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS.The enzyme activities of the compounds against PARP-1 and PI3K were measured, and the results showed that most of the compounds demonstrated good inhibitory activities against PARP-1 and PI3K.Based on the above result, the inhibitory activities of compounds 8b, 8e, and 8f against MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468, HCC1937, HCT116, and olaparib-resistant HCT116R were determined by MTT, respectively.Additionally, the structure-activity relationship was discussed. The results showed that these compounds displayed excellent antiproliferation activity.Among them, compound 8f demonstrated antiproliferation remarkably against all five tumor cells, which was more potent than that of olaparib, and was comparable to that of BKM120.Furthermore, the solubility of hydrochloride salts of compound 8b and 8f was significantly improved compared to the lead compounds.The results of this study will provide a theoretical basis for the further development of PARP-1 and PI3K dual-target inhibitors with good pharmaceutical properties and strong inhibitory activities.

A novel PI3K inhibitor XH30 suppresses orthotopic glioblastoma and brain metastasis in mice models

Glioblastoma is carcinogenesis of glial cells in central nervous system and has the highest incidence among primary brain tumors. Brain metastasis, such as breast cancer and lung cancer, also leads to high mortality. The available medicines are limited due to blood-brain barrier. Abnormal activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3K) signaling pathway is prevalent in glioblastoma and metastatic tumors. Here, we characterized a 2-amino-4-methylquinazoline derivative XH30 as a potent PI3K inhibitor with excellent anti-tumor activity against human glioblastoma. XH30 significantly repressed the proliferation of various brain cancer cells and decreased the phosphorylation of key proteins of PI3K signaling pathway, induced cell cycle arrest in G1 phase as well. Additionally, XH30 inhibited the migration of glioma cells and blocked the activation of PI3K pathway by interleukin-17A (IL-17A), which increased the migration of U87MG. Oral administration of XH30 significantly suppressed the tumor growth in both subcutaneous and orthotopic tumor models. XH30 also repressed tumor growth in brain metastasis models of lung cancers. Moreover, XH30 reduced IL-17A and its receptor IL-17RA in vivo. These results indicate that XH30 might be a potential therapeutic drug candidate for glioblastoma migration and brain metastasis.

Advances in anti-tumor research of HDAC inhibitors and combination with PI3K inhibitors / 药学学报

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) is usually abnormally overexpressed, which mainly leads to the transcriptional repression of tumor suppressor genes. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs) exert anti-tumor biological effects by regulating nucleosome structure, inhibiting HDAC activity, and controlling the expression of tumor suppressor genes. There are currently 5 drugs on the market, but only for peripheral T-cell lymphoma and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. In solid tumors, most of the HDAC inhibitors used have failed to achieve effective therapeutic effects. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) is the starting node of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling pathway, which plays a very important role in the proliferation, migration, invasion, and differentiation of tumor cells. The abnormal activation of PI3K is closely related to the occurrence and development of tumors, and the combined use of HDAC and PI3K inhibitors and HDAC/PI3K dual-target inhibitors show synergistic anticancer activity. This article introduces the anti-tumor clinical and preclinical research progress of representative HDAC inhibitors and PI3K inhibitors, as well as HDAC/PI3K dual-target inhibitors.

Expert consensus on the clinical application of PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors in the treatment of advanced breast cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway (PAM pathway) plays an important role in the development of breast cancer and are closely associated with the resistance to endocrine therapy in advanced breast cancer. Therefore, anti-cancer treatment targeting key molecules in this signaling pathway has become research hot-spot in recent years. Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors bring significant clinical benefit to patients with advanced breast cancer, especially to those with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) 2-negative advanced breast cancer. Alpelisib, a PI3K inhibitor, and everolimus, an mTOR inhibitor, have been approved by Food and Drug Administration. Based on their high efficacy and relatively good safety profile, expanded indication of everolimus in breast cancer have been approved by National Medical Products Administration. Alpelisib is expected to be approved in China in the near future. The members of the consensus expert panel reached this consensus to comprehensively define the role of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in breast cancer, efficacy and clinical applications of PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors, management of adverse reactions, and PIK3CA mutation detection, in order to promote the understanding of PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors for Chinese oncologists, improve clinical decision-making, and prolong the survival of target patient population.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors based on a quinoxaline scaffold / 药学学报

Based on the structure of inhibitors XL765 and WR23, the quinoxaline scaffold was selected as an attractive structure for drug design. In this protocol, the 2-position of quinoxaline was modified with a substituted phenoxy fragment. Meanwhile, the linking chain at the 3-position was changed to a sulfonyl hydrazine or was removed. A series of substituent groups were added at the 6-position of the quinoxaline scaffold. Twenty-two quinoline derivatives were designed and synthesized, and their structures were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and ESI-MS. All compounds were screened for anti-tumor activity in vitro in A549, MCF-7, HCT-116 and HepG2 cancer cells. The results showed that P6b was effective, P6e and P6f had better activity against HCT116 (IC50 = 3.24, 4.78 and 4.50 μmol·L-1), and P6d had strong inhibitory effect on MCF-7 (IC50 = 0.228 7 μmol·L-1).

Study on the bioactivity against hematologic malignancies and theoretical binding mechanism of a novel PI3K inhibitor JN-65 / 中国药科大学学报

@#The PI3K signaling pathway is frequently over-expressed in a variety of hematologic malignancies, so the development of PI3K inhibitors for the treatment of hematologic malignancies has broad application prospects. In this study, a novel PI3K inhibitor, JN-65, was identified through the investigation effects in the inhibition to hematologic malignancies. By MTT assays, JN-65 was found to effectively suppress the proliferation of hematologic malignancies, especially leukemia cell lines. The cell-free enzymatic studies demonstrated that JN-65 cloud inhibit PI3K and specifically inhibited PI3Kγ at low micromolar concentrations. Western blot confirmed that JN-65 could effectively inhibit the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and the flow cytometry assays verified that JN-65 could induce the apoptosis of tumor cells through the suppression of PI3K signaling pathway. Finally, the molecular docking simulation method was used to explore the interaction between JN-65 and PI3K, and the inhibition mechanism of PI3K was revealed at the molecular level. In general, JN-65 would be a potential PI3K inhibitor for the treatment of hematologic malignancies.

Effect of Yanghe Huayan Tang Combined with PI3K Inhibitor on Expressions of HER-2, PI3K and p-Akt in PI3K/Akt Pathway of High-expression HER-2 Breast Cancer Cell Lines / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective: To investigate effect of Yanghe Huayan Tang and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002 in intervening expressions of human epidermal growth factor receptor human epidermal growth factor receptor-2(HER-2), PI3K and phosphorylated serine/threonine kinase (p-Akt)in PI3K/Akt pathway of breast cancer cell line SK-BR-3 (HER-2 high expression) in vitro, and study intervention mechanism of Yanghe Huayan Tang. Method: Yanghe Huayan Tang intestinal absorption fluid was prepared, breast cancer cell strain SK-BR-3 was divided into blank group, Yanghe Huayan Tang group, LY294002 group, LY294002+Yanghe Huayan Tang group. The concentration was respectively 125 g·L-1 for Yanghe Huayan Tang, 0.05 g·L-1 for LY294002, 125 g·L-1 for Yanghe Huayan Tang+LY294002.The expressions of HER-2, PI3K and p-Akt protein were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot after 24 h. The most appropriate and effective concentration was obtained through extensive experiments. The expressions of HER-2, PI3K and p-Akt were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Result: Compared with blank group, LY294002 group, and LY294002+Yanghe Huayan Tang group could inhibit protein and mRNA expressions of HER-2, PI3K, p-Akt in breast cancer cell lines(PPPPConclusion: Yanghe Huayan Tang can inhibit angiogenesis and invasion of breast cancer. Its main mechanism is expressed by intervening PI3K/Akt pathway, reducing expressions of HER-2, PI3K and p-Akt in pathway.

3D-QSAR Study for Pyridine Heterocyclic Ring PI3K Inhibitor as Anti-renal Cancer Drug / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To study 3D-QSAR of pyridine heterocyclic ring PI3K inhibitor as anti-renal cancer drug,and to provide reference for the design and R&D of new anti-renal cancer inhibitors. METHODS:The data of structure and active value (pIC50) of 30 pyridine heterocyclic ring PI3K inhibitors were collected. After Sybyl-X 1.1 software used for molecular superimposition, CoMFA and CoMSIA model were established to investigate three dimensional field, electrostatic field, hydrophobic field,hydrogen bond donor site and hydrogen bond acceptor field of PI3K inhibitor molecule. Sybyl-X 1.1 software was used for molecular docking,and the mechanism of PI3K inhibitor molecule and receptor target protein were analyzed. PyMOL V1.5 software was used to design new PI3K inhibitor molecules. The activity of inhibitor molecules was predicted with CoMFA and CoMSIA model. RESULTS:The cross validation coefficients of CoMFA and CoMSIA model were 0.617 and 0.601, fitting validation coefficients were 0.969 and 0.974,and external predictive correlation coefficients were 0.656 and 0.670, respectively. In CoMFA model, contributions of three dimensional field and electrostatic field were 56.2% and 43.8%respectively. In CoMSIA model,contributions of three dimensional field,electrostatic field,hydrophobic field,hydrogen bond donor site and hydrogen bond acceptor field were 41.0%,31.3%,21.1%,2.4%,4.2%. After molecular superimposition,small steric hindrance,strong positive and hydrophilic groups introduced nearby R1 group of common skeleton could help to enhance the activity of molecules. The results of molecular docking showed that PI3K inhibitor molecule formed three hydrogen bonds with the key amino acids ALA805,VAL882 and THR887 of receptor target protein,with the length of 1.84,1.99,1.99 ?. According to above information,6 new molecules were designed,among which predicted pIC50 of 2 molecules with higher activity were 3.211,3.247(CoMFA method)and 3.238,3.222(CoMSIA method). CONCLUSIONS:Established new CoMFA and CoMSIA model have good prediction ability and statistical stability. Contribution of three dimensional field is higher than that of electrostatic field,and the influence of hydrophobic field on molecular activity can not be ignored. Pyridine heterocyclic ring PI3K inhibitors have strong hydrogen bonding role with receptor target protein. 3D-QSAR can provide reference for the design,reconstruction and drug R&D of new PI3K inhibitor molecule.

Class I phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitors for cancer therapy

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway is frequently activated in human cancers. Class I PI3Ks are lipid kinases that phosphorylate phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) at the 3-OH of the inositol ring to generate phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP3), which in turn activates Akt and the downstream effectors like mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to play key roles in carcinogenesis. Therefore, PI3K has become an important anticancer drug target, and currently there is very high interest in the pharmaceutical development of PI3K inhibitors. Idelalisib has been approved in USA and Europe as the first-in-class PI3K inhibitor for cancer therapy. Dozens of other PI3K inhibitors including BKM120 and ZSTK474 are being evaluated in clinical trials. Multifaceted studies on these PI3K inhibitors are being performed, such as single and combinational efficacy, resistance, biomarkers, etc. This review provides an introduction to PI3K and summarizes key advances in the development of PI3K inhibitors.