Selective COX-2 inhibitors as anticancer agents: a patent review (2018-2023).

INTRODUCTION: COX-2 is a crucial enzyme in the manufacture of prostaglandins. The enzyme's metabolites might have an important function as regulators of the inflammatory response and other medical conditions such as cancer. Selective COX-2 inhibitors are believed to enhance or reverse the response of cancer chemotherapeutics. AREAS COVERED: This study addresses the chemical structures as well as the antitumor activity of new COX-2 inhibitors produced in the recent five years, aiming to provide an insight into the mechanism of COX-2 induced PGE2 powerful signal in cancer development. EXPERT OPINION: The significance of selective COX-2 inhibitors as an efficient superfamily of compounds with anti-inflammatory, anti-Alzheimer's, anti-Parkinson's disease, and anticancer properties has piqued the passion of academics in the field of drug development. Long-term usage of selective COX-2 inhibitors, such as celecoxib has been proven in clinical trials to lower the incidence of several human malignancies. Furthermore, celecoxib has the potential to greatly increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Our extensive understanding of selective COX-2 inhibitor SAR may aid in the development of safer and more effective selective COX-2 inhibitors as cancer chemopreventive agents. This review focuses on the different structural classes of selective COX-2 inhibitors, with a particular emphasis on their SAR.

Chalcones as Potential Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors: A Review.

Cyclooxygenases (COXs) play a pivotal role in inflammation, a complex phenomenon required in human defense, but also involved in the emergence of insidious human disorders. Currently-used COX-1 inhibitors (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs-NSAIDs), as the most frequent choices for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, have been identified to be associated with a variety of adverse drug reactions, especially dyspepsia, as well as peptic ulcer, which lead to diminished output. Moreover, the structural similarities of COX- 1 and -2, along with the availability of comprehensive information about the three-dimensional structure of COX- 2, co-crystallized with various inhibitors, search selective COX-2 inhibitors a formidable challenge. COX-2 inhibitors were shown to minimize the incidence of metastasis in cancer patients when administered preoperatively. Developing selective COX-2 inhibitors to tackle both cancer and chronic inflammatory illnesses has been identified as a promising research direction in recent decades. Identifying innovative scaffolds to integrate as the major component of future COX-2 inhibitors is critical in this regard. The presence of a central, α, ß-unsaturated carbonyl- containing scaffold, as a characteristic structural pattern in many selective COX-2 inhibitors, along with a huge count of chalcone-based anticancer agents representing the basic idea of this review; providing a survey of the most recently published literature concerning development of chalcone analogs as novel COX-2 inhibitors until 2022 with efficient anticancer activity. A brief overview of the most recent developments concerning structure- activity relationship insights and mechanisms is also reported, helping pave the road for additional investigation.

Design, Synthesis, Docking Studies, and Biological Evaluation of Novel 2-Hydroxyacetophenone Derivatives as Anti-HIV-1 Agents.

BACKGROUND: The persistence of HIV mutations and the existence of multidrug resistance have produced an opportunity for an array of innovative anti-HIV medicines with a variety of structures that target HIV key enzymes. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this work was to find a new class of anti-HIV drugs founded on HIV integrase inhibitor pharmacophores. METHODS: A novel class of 2-hydroxy acetophenone analogs featuring substituted benzamide or N-phenylthiourea groups was designed and synthesized based on the general pharmacophore of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors (INs). RESULTS: Most of the synthesized analogs were found to be moderately active against the virus, with EC50 values ranging from 40 to 140 µM. Additionally, it was found that most of the compounds presented no considerable cytotoxicity (CC50 > 500 µΜ). The most potent compounds substituting with 4-fluorobenzamide (compound 7) and 4-methylbenzamide (compound 9) rings inhibited the HIV-1 replication by EC50 values of 40 and 45 µΜ, respectively. Docking studies using the crystallographic data available for PFV IN indicated that the Mg2+ coordination might be the possible mechanism of the anti-viral activity. CONCLUSION: Our findings proved that the synthesized analogs may suggest a very good basis for the development of new anti-HIV-1 agents.

Dual COX-2/15-LOX inhibitors: A new avenue in the prevention of cancer.

Dual cyclooxygenase 2/15-lipoxygenase inhibitors constitute a valuable alternative to classical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and selective COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2) inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, as well as preventing the cancer. Indeed, these latter present diverse side effects, which are reduced or absent in dual-acting agents. In this review, COX-2 and 15-LOX (15-lipoxygenase) pathways are first described in order to highlight the therapeutic interest of designing such compounds. Various structural families of dual inhibitors are illustrated. This study discloses various structural families of dual 15-LOX/COX-2 inhibitors, thus pave the way to design potentially-active anticancer agents with balanced dual inhibition of these enzymes.

Prediction of dual NF-κB/IκB inhibitors using an integrative in-silico approaches.

Multiple lines of evidence indicate that the NF-κB signaling pathway plays a pivotal role in carcinogenesis; activation of NF-κB in cancer increases cell proliferation and suppresses apoptosis, both of which define tumor mass development. Inhibiting NF-κB leads to tumor suppression by blocking the IKK-α/ß enzymes, thus inhibiting its translocation. Furthermore, protecting p65 from acetylation and phosphorylation inhibits NF-κB through its active site. Some small molecules are assumed to inhibit NF-κB and IκB function separately. This study took one of the previously reported NF-κB inhibitors (compound D4) as a promising lead and predicted some dual NF-κB and IκB inhibitors. We performed a virtual screening (VS) workflow on a library with 186,146 compounds with 75% similarity to compound D4 on both NF-κB and IκB proteins. A total of 186 compounds were extracted from three steps of VS 36 were common in both proteins. These compounds were subjected to the quantum polarized ligand docking to elect potent compounds with the highest binding affinity for NF-κB and IκB proteins. The MM-GBSA method calculates the lowest binding free energy for eight selected compounds. These analyses found three top-ranked compounds for each protein with suitable pharmacokinetics properties and higher in-silico inhibitory ability. In the last screening, compound CID_4969 was introduced to a molecular dynamics (MDs) simulation study as a common inhibitor for both proteins. The MDs confirmed the main interactions between the final elected compound and NF-κB/IκB proteins. Consequently, the presented computational approaches could be used for designing promising anti-cancer agents.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Novel Benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives as selective Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors: Design, synthesis, docking studies, and biological evaluation.

The present study was aimed at the synthesis and evaluation of a new series of benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine having a methylsulfonyl group as COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2) inhibitor pharmacophore. Molecular modeling studies were performed using the Autodock program, and the results demonstrated that methylsulfonyl pharmacophore was adequately placed into the COX-2 active site. The in vitro and in vivo COX-2 inhibitory effects were also evaluated. In the in vitro assay, all newly synthesized compounds showed moderate to good selectivity for the inhibition of the COX-2 enzyme. However, compound 2-(4-(methylsulfonyl) phenyl)-4-phenylbenzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine (5a) showed the highest COX-2 inhibitory effect (IC50: 0.05 µM) even more than celecoxib as the reference drug (IC50: 0.06 µM). For the in vivo study, the writing reflex test was used, and the results indicated that all synthesized compounds had well dose-dependent anti-nociceptive activity. The in vivo evaluation also showed that compound 2-(4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl)-4-(p-tolyl)benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine (5d) had the highest activity in the writing reflex test (ED50: 5.75 mg/kg). In addition, the cytotoxicity effects of the synthesized compounds were tested on MCF-7 breast cancer cells, and all compounds showed considerable inhibitory results.

Natural-Derived COX-2 Inhibitors as Anticancer Drugs: A Review of their Structural Diversity and Mechanism of Action.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a key-type enzyme playing a crucial role in cancer development, making it a target of high interest for drug designers. In the last two decades, numerous selective COX-2 inhibitors have been approved for various clinical conditions. However, data from clinical trials propose that the prolonged use of COX-2 inhibitors is associated with life-threatening cardiovascular side effects. The data indicate that a slight structural modification can help develop COX-2 selective inhibitors with comparative efficacy and limited side effects. In this regard, secondary metabolites from natural sources offer great hope for developing novel COX-2 inhibitors with potential anticancer activity. In recent years, various nature-derived organic scaffolds are being explored as leads for developing new COX-2 inhibitors. The current review attempts to highlight the COX-2 inhibition activity of some naturally occurring secondary metabolites, concerning their capacity to inhibit COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes and inhibit cancer development, aiming to establish a structure-activity relationship.

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel Thiadiazole Derivatives as Antiplatelet Agents.

A novel series of thiadiazole compounds was synthesized through the reaction of thiosemicarbazone intermediates with 2, 3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ). The antiplatelet activity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated using an aggregation test with adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and arachidonic acid (AA) as platelet aggregation inducers. Among the synthesized analogs, compound 3b exhibited the most potent inhibition of platelet aggregation induced by ADP (half maximal inhibitory concentration [IC50] = 39 ± 11 µM). Molecular docking studies of 3b revealed hydrogen bonds between the nitrogen of the thiadiazole ring and Lys280. The tolyl ring exhibited hydrophobic interactions with Tyr105, similar to the antagonist co-crystallized with P2Y12 (PDB ID: 4NTJ). These compounds have the potential to serve as lead molecules for designing P2Y12 inhibitors.

Novel 2-(Diphenylmethylidene) Malonic Acid Derivatives as Anti-HIV Agents: Molecular Modeling, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation.

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), is one of the world's most severe health and development challenges. In this study, a novel series of 2-(diphenyl methylidene) malonic acid derivatives were designed as triple inhibitors of HIV reverse transcriptase, integrase, and protease. Docking models revealed that the target compounds have appropriate affinities to the active sites of the three HIV key enzymes. The synthesized malonic acid analogs were evaluated for their activities against the HIV virus (NL4-3) in HeLa cells cultures. Among them, compound 3 was the most potent anti-HIV agent with 55.20% inhibition at 10 µM and an EC50 of 8.4 µM. Interestingly, all the synthesized compounds do not show significant cytotoxicity at a concentration of 10 µM. As a result, these compounds may serve as worthy hits for the development of novel anti-HIV-agents.

HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase/Integrase Dual Inhibitors: A Review of Recent Advances and Structure-activity Relationship Studies.

The significant threat to humanity is HIV infection, and it is uncertain whether a definitive treatment or a safe HIV vaccine is. HIV-1 is continually evolving and resistant to commonly used HIV-resistant medications, presenting significant obstacles to HIV infection management. The drug resistance adds to the need for new anti-HIV drugs; it chooses ingenious approaches to fight the emerging virus. Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), a multi-target approach for specific therapies, has proved effective in AIDS treatment. Therefore, it is a dynamic system with high prescription tension, increased risk of medication reactions, and adverse effects, leading to poor compliance with patients. In the HIV-1 lifecycle, two critical enzymes with high structural and functional analogies are reverse transcriptase (RT) and integrase (IN), which can be interpreted as druggable targets for modern dual-purpose inhibitors. Designed multifunctional ligand (DML) is a new technique that recruited many targets to be achieved by one chemical individual. A single chemical entity that acts for multiple purposes can be much more successful than a complex multidrug program. The production of these multifunctional ligands as antiretroviral drugs is valued with the advantage that the viral-replication process may end in two or more phases. This analysis will discuss the RT-IN dual-inhibitory scaffolds' developments documented so far.

Dual Human Carbonic Anhydrase/Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors: A Promising Approach for Cancer Treatment.

Human Carbonic Anhydrase (hCA) and Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) have been known for a long to be chiefly involved in both the pathogenesis and progression of cancer and cancer chemoresistance. Interestingly, there is considerable evidence that the sulfonamide-type COX-2 selective inhibitors (coxibs) demonstrate inhibitory action against the cancer-related hCA isoforms, confirmed by X-ray crystal structures for celecoxib and valdecoxib complexes with the hCA active site. Consequently, the antineoplastic activity of the sulfonamide coxibs may be justified by the contribution of hCA inhibition to such processes in addition to COX-2 inhibition. Accordingly, these compounds' anti-tumoral activity should be further explored for their possible use in cancer prevention and combination therapy; however, few papers deal with this issue. Beginning with a brief description of the main molecular and catalytic features of both enzymes and their roles in tumor physiology, this review covers a survey of the most recent evidence regarding the molecules targeting one or both of hCA and COX-2, besides providing insights into their mechanism of action and efficacy in preventing cancer.

Lipoxygenase Inhibitors as Cancer Chemopreventives: Discovery, Recent Developments and Future Perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Leukotrienes (LTs) constitute a bioactive group of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA) metabolites molded by the enzymatic activity of lipoxygenase (LO) and have a pivotal role in inflammation and allergy. Evidence is accumulating both by in vitro cell culture experiments and animal tumor model studies in support of the direct involvement of aberrant metabolism of arachidonic acid (ACD) in the development of several types of human cancers such as lung, prostate, pancreatic and colorectal malignancies. Several independent experimental data suggest a correlation between tumoral cells viability and LO gene expression, especially, 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO). Overexpressed 5-LO cells live longer, proliferate faster, invade more effectively through extracellular matrix destruction and activate the anti-apoptotic signaling mechanisms more intensively compared to the normal counterparts. Thus, some groups of lipoxygenase inhibitors may be effective as promising chemopreventive agents. METHODS: A structured search of bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed research literature regarding the role of LO in the pathogenesis of cancer was performed. The characteristics of screened papers were summarized and the latest advances focused on the discovery of new LO inhibitors as anticancer agents were discussed. RESULTS: More than 180 papers were included and summarized in this review; the majority was about the newly designed and synthesized 5-LO inhibitors as anti-inflammatory and anticancer agents. The enzyme's structure, 5-LO pathway, 5-LO inhibitors structure-activity relationships as well as the correlation between these drugs and a number of most prevalent human cancers were described. In most cases, it has been emphasized that dual cyclooxygenase-2/5-lipoxygenase (COX-2/5-LO) or dual 5-lipoxygenase/microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (5-LO/mPGES-1) inhibitors possess considerable inhibitory activities against their target enzymes as well as potent antiproliferative effects. Several papers disclosing 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) antagonists as a new group of 5-LO activity regulators are also subject to this review. Also, the potential of 12-lipoxygenase (12- LO) and 15-lipoxygenase (15-LO) inhibitors as chemopreventive agents was outlined to expand the scope of new anticancer agents discovery. Some peptides and peptidomimetics with anti-LT activities were described as well. In addition, the cytotoxic effects of lipoxygenase inhibitors and their adverse effects were discussed and some novel series of natural-product-derived inhibitors of LO was also discussed in this review. CONCLUSION: This review gives insights into the novel lipoxygenase inhibitors with anticancer activity as well as the different molecular pharmacological strategies to inhibit the enzyme effectively. The findings confirm that certain groups of LO inhibitors could act as promising chemopreventive agents.

STAT3-mediated Apoptotic-enhancing Function of Sclareol Against Breast Cancer Cells and Cell Sensitization to Cyclophosphamide.

Sclareol is an organic compound with potential anti-tumor effects against various cancer types. However, its precise molecular mechanism in the suppression of tumor growth has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, the anti-proliferative and apoptosis-inducing effects of sclareol with cyclophosphamide were investigated in breast cancer cells and the involvement of the JAK/STAT pathway was evaluated. For this purpose, MCF-7 breast cancer cells were cultured and treated with various concentrations of sclareol to determine its IC50. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay and apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometric analysis of annexin V binding. Gene and protein expression were examined by real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The activity of caspase enzymes was also measured. The results showed that sclareol significantly reduced cell viability and triggered cell death and its co-administration with cyclophosphamide enhanced its anti-cancer properties. Additionally, sclareol up-regulated the expression of p53 and BAX and reduced the expression of Bcl-2. Docking studies indicated an interaction between sclareol and STAT3 which was proved by attenuation of STAT3 phosphorylation after treatment of the cells with sclareol. Sclareol was also capable of suppressing the function of IL-6 in modulating the expression of apoptosis-associated genes. Altogether these data suggest the potential of sclareol as an anti-cancer agent and demonstrate that a combination of sclareol with cyclophosphamide might serve as an effective chemotherapeutic approach resulting in improvements in the treatment of breast cancer.

Discovery of phthalimide derivatives as novel inhibitors of a soluble epoxide hydrolase.

Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitors are effective in reducing blood pressure, inflammation, and pain in a number of mammalian disease models. As most classical urea-based sEH inhibitors suffer from poor solubility and pharmacokinetic properties, the development of novel sEH inhibitors with an improved pharmacokinetic specification has received a great deal of attention. In this study, a series of amide-based sEH inhibitors bearing a phthalimide ring as the novel secondary pharmacophore (P2 ) was designed, synthesized, and evaluated. Docking results illustrated that the amide group as the primary pharmacophore (P1 ) was placed at a suitable distance from the three key amino acids (Tyr383, Tyr466, and Asp335) for an effective hydrogen bonding. In agreement with these findings, most of the newly synthesized compounds demonstrated moderate to high sEH inhibitory activities, relative to 12-(3-adamantan-1-yl-ureido)dodecanoic acid as the reference standard. Compound 12e with a 4-methoxybenzoyl substituent exhibited the highest sEH inhibitory activity, with an IC50 value of 1.06 nM. Moreover, the ADME properties of the compounds were evaluated in silico, and the results revealed appropriate predictions.