ABSTRACT
Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) are transcription factors and are activated in response to hypoxia. Both HIF-1α and STAT3 regulate various aspects of cancer biology such as cell survival, proliferation, angiogenesis etc. and are constitutively expressed in a wide range of human cancers. In the last decade, over expression of HIF-1α and STAT3 has been demonstrated in many common human cancers, thereby emerging as highly compelling anticancer targets for drug discovery. We herein report the design and synthesis of new imidazopyridine based potent dual inhibitors of HIF-1α and STAT3 pathways. The lead compound of this series P3971 has been identified as a potent inhibitor of HIF-1α (200 nM) and STAT3 (350 nM) with significant antiproliferative activity against various cancer cell lines. Moreover, P3971 was also found to be orally efficacious in HCT116 (colon cancer) and H460 (lung cancer) xenograft mice models.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology , Drug Discovery , Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit/antagonists & inhibitors , Imidazoles/pharmacology , Neoplasms/drug therapy , STAT3 Transcription Factor/antagonists & inhibitors , Sulfonamides/pharmacology , Administration, Oral , Animals , Antineoplastic Agents/administration & dosage , Antineoplastic Agents/chemistry , Cell Proliferation/drug effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor , Humans , Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit/metabolism , Imidazoles/chemical synthesis , Imidazoles/chemistry , Mice , Mice, SCID , Molecular Structure , Neoplasms/metabolism , Neoplasms/pathology , STAT3 Transcription Factor/metabolism , Structure-Activity Relationship , Sulfonamides/chemical synthesis , Sulfonamides/chemistry , Tumor Cells, CulturedABSTRACT
We herein report the design and synthesis of furoquinoline based novel molecules (16-36) and their in vitro multiple targeted inhibitory potency against PI3K/Akt phosphorylation and mTOR using cell based and cell-free kinase assay. In particular, compound 23 in addition to PI3K-mTOR inhibitory potency, it has shown potent inhibition of hypoxia-induced accumulation of HIF-1alpha protein in U251-HRE cell line. The inhibitory activities of compound 23 were confirmed by Western blot analysis, using human non-small cell lung carcinoma H-460 cell line and glioblastoma U251 cell lines.
