Enzym. Inhib. Med. Ch., 2022, 37 (1), 1587-1599, https://doi.org/10.1080/14756366.2022.2081844
I.H. Eissa, R. El-Haggar, M.A. Dahab, M. F. Ahmed, H. A. Mahdy, A. S. Khalifa, A. Elwan, N. Masurier, S. S. Fatahala
Abstract
A novel series of 2-thioacetamide linked benzoxazole-benzamide conjugates 1–15 was designed as potential inhibitors of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2). The prepared compounds were evaluated for their potential antitumor activity and their corresponding selective cytotoxicity was estimated using normal human fibroblast (WI-38) cells. Compounds 1, 9–12 and 15 showed good selectivity and displayed excellent cytotoxic activity against both HCT-116 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines compared to sorafenib, used as a reference compound. Furthermore, compounds 1 and 11 showed potent VEGFR-2 inhibitory activity. The cell cycle progression assay showed that 1 and 11 induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase, with a concomitant increase in the pre-G1 cell population. Further pharmacological studies showed that 1 and 11 induced apoptosis and inhibited the expression of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL proteins in both cell lines. Therefore, compounds 1 and 11 might serve as promising candidates for future anticancer therapy development.
