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Benzothiazole derivatives resembling the structure of DNA purine bases were tested to determine their topoisomerase inhibition activities. Based on DNA topoisomerase I and II relaxation assay results, all 12 derivatives acted as human topoisomerase IIa inhibitors, whereas only two compounds inhibited Calf thymus topoisomerase I. 3-amino-2-(2-bromobenzyl)-1,3-benzothiazol-3-ium 4-methylbenzensulfonate (BM3) was observed to be the most effective human topoisomerase IIa inhibitor with the lowest IC 50 value of 39 nM. The mechanistic studies suggested that BM3 was neither a DNA intercalator nor a topoisomerase poison, it was only a DNA minor groovebinding agent. BM3 initially bound to the DNA topoisomerase IIa enzyme, then to DNA. As a result, the tested benzothiazole derivatives were obtained as strong topoisomerase IIa inhibitors. The benzothiazole tosylated salt form BM3 was found as the most effective topoisomerase IIa inhibitor. BM3's mechanisms of action might be its direct interaction with the enzyme. BM3's minor groove-binding property might also contribute to this action. Hence, BM3 could be a good candidate as a new anticancer agent.

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A series of benzoxazole derivatives and some possible primary metabolites were evaluated as anticancer agents. In vitro anti-proliferative activities of the compounds were tested using the SRB assay on cancerous (HeLa) and non-cancerous (L929) cell lines. It was found that 17 of 21 tested compounds had cytotoxic activity on HeLa cells and the cytotoxic activities of the compounds were 15-700 times higher than on L929 cells. We generated two distinct pharmacophore models for the cytotoxic activities of the compounds on HeLa and L929 cells. While active compounds such as camptothecin and X8 fitted the two models generated for both cell lines, selective cytotoxic compounds such as XT3B fitted only the model generated for HeLa cells. Evaluation of the genotoxic activities of the cytotoxic compounds with the alkaline comet assay revealed that compounds X17 and XT3 showed strong genotoxic effects against HeLa cells at low concentrations whereas they had no genotoxic effect on L929 cells. Due to the selective ability for inducing DNA strand breaks only on cancerous cells, the compounds were identified as effective derivatives for anticancer candidates.

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