Quinoline-based thiazolidinone derivatives as potent cytotoxic and apoptosis-inducing agents through EGFR inhibition.

Quinoline-based thiazolidinone heterocycles exhibited potent activity in the field of cancer therapy. Hence, ten quinoline-based thiazolidinone derivatives were evaluated for their anticancer activity through cytotoxic activity, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition pathway, apoptosis investigation through flow cytometric analyses, RT-PCR gene expression, in vivo solid-Ehrlich carcinoma model, and finally in silico approach for highlighting the interaction pose. Results revealed that compound 7 exhibited cytotoxic activity against HCT-116 cells with an IC50 value of 7.43 µM compared to 5-FU (IC50  = 11.36 µM) with moderate cytotoxic activity against the FHC (IC50  = 35.27 µM), and it exhibited remarkable inhibition activity of EGFR with IC50 value of 96.43 nM compared to Erlotinib (IC50  = 78.65 nM). Moreover, it significantly stimulated apoptotic colon cancer cell death with 171.58-fold arresting cell cycle at G2 and S-phases. Additionally, it ameliorated both biochemical and histochemical structures near normal with tumor inhibition ratio of 52.92% compared to 5-FU of 57.16%, with immunohistochemical examinations of EGFR inhibition in the treated group compared to control. Finally, molecular docking study highlighted its good binding affinity through good interactive binding pose inside the EGFR protein. In conclusion, the potent EGFR inhibitory activity of compound 7 was investigated using three integrated approaches in vitro, in vivo, and in silico, so it worth be validated and developed as a chemotherapeutic anticancer agent.

Antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities of novel synthesized 6-(quinolin-2-ylthio) pyridine derivatives with molecular docking study as multi-targeted JAK2/STAT3 inhibitors.

Quinoline derivatives are attracting considerable interest due to their biological importance. In this paper, several 2-amino-4-aryl-6-(quinolin-2-ylthio)pyridine-3,5-dicarbonitrile derivatives are synthesized by adopting a one-pot reaction of quinoline-2-thione, aromatic aldehydes, and malononitrile in the presence of sodium hydroxide in absolute ethanol. The structures of these newly synthesized compounds were determined using different spectroscopic techniques, including elemental analyses, IR, 1 H NMR, and MS. The synthesized derivatives were screened for their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. Compounds 4a, 4b, 4d, and 4e exhibited promising antimicrobial activity compared to antibacterial and antifungal standard drugs. Additionally, 4f, 4d, and 4g showed potent cytotoxic activity against both MCF-7 and A549 cells with IC50 values (6.39-9.3 µM). Our molecular docking results of compound 4f prove good binding affinity toward the three tested proteins as Jak2/STATA3 inhibition and are in accordance with the RT-PCR mRNA expressions of the compound against MCF-7 cells which downregulated the Jak2 and STAT3 genes, and this may be the proposed mode of action for anti-breast cancer activity.

Discovery of novel pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine scaffold-based derivatives as potential PIM-1 kinase inhibitors in breast cancer MCF-7 cells.

Pim-1 kinase targeted recently has proved an essential goal of breast cancer therapy. We report the design, synthesis with full characterization analysis of pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine scaffold-based derivatives targeting Pim-1 kinase as anti-breast cancer agents. All the newly synthesized compounds were screened for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against two breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, and non-cancerous MCF-10A cells. Four derivatives notably, 17 and 19 exhibited a remarkable cytotoxic activity with IC50 values 5.98 and 5.61 µM against MCF-7 (ERα-dependent) cells in a selective way, as they weren't active against MDA-MB-231 (non-ERα-dependent) and safe against MCF-10A. The most active compounds through in vitro screening were subjected to PIM-1 kinase to elucidate the Pim-1 kinase inhibitory activity as the mechanistic mode of action. Among the tested derivatives, Compounds 17 and 19 showed the highest inhibitory activity with IC50 values 43 and 26 nM, respectively, compared to the 5-FU with IC50 value 17 nM. Moreover, apoptotic investigation through flow cytometry and gene expression analysis of the apoptosis-related genes for the most active compound 19 against MCF-7. It was found that compound 19 induced apoptotic MCF-7 cell death by cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and by elevation the expression of pro-apoptotic genes and inhibition of anti-apoptotic genes expression. Finally, the PIM-1 inhibition activities for compounds 17 and 19 were in accordance with the molecular docking study that revealed good interaction with the Pim-1 kinase active site.