Anticancer drugs that bind to DNA and inhibit DNA-processing enzymes represent an important class of anticancer drugs. In order to find stronger DNA binding and more potent cytotoxic compounds, a series of ester-coupled bisanthrapyrazole derivatives of 7-chloro-2-[2-[(2-hydroxyethyl)methylamino]ethyl]anthra[1,9-cd]pyrazol-6(2H)-one (AP9) were designed and evaluated by molecular docking techniques. Because the anthrapyrazoles are unable to be reductively activated like doxorubicin and other anthracyclines, they should not be cardiotoxic like the anthracyclines. Based on the docking scores of a series of bisanthrapyrazoles with different numbers of methylene linkers (n) that were docked into an X-ray structure of double-stranded DNA, five bisanthrapyrazoles (n = 1 to 5) were selected for synthesis and physical and biological evaluation. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for DNA binding and bisintercalation by measuring the DNA melting temperature increase, for growth inhibitory effects on the human erythroleukemic K562 cell line, and for DNA topoisomerase IIα-mediated cleavage of DNA and inhibition of DNA topoisomerase IIα decatenation activities. The results suggest that the bisanthrapyrazoles with n = 2 to 5 formed bisintercalation complexes with DNA. In conclusion, a novel group of bisintercalating anthrapyrazole compounds have been designed, synthesized and biologically evaluated as possible anticancer agents.

A series of 13 anthrapyrazole compounds that are analogues of piroxantrone and losoxantrone were synthesized, and their cell growth inhibitory effects, DNA binding, topoisomerase IIalpha mediated (EC 5.99.1.3) cleavage of DNA, and inhibition of DNA topoisomerase IIalpha decatenation catalytic activities were determined. Cell growth inhibitory activity was well-correlated with DNA binding, suggesting that these compounds may act by targeting DNA. However, cell growth inhibition was not well-correlated with the inhibition of topoisomerase IIalpha catalytic activity, suggesting that these anthrapyrazoles did not act solely by inhibiting the catalytic activity of topoisomerase II. Most of the analogues were able to induce DNA cleavage, and thus, it was concluded that they acted, at least in part, as topoisomerase II poisons. Structure-based three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity analyses (3D-QSAR) were carried out on the aligned structures of the anthrapyrazoles docked into DNA using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity index (CoMSIA) analyses in order to determine the structural features responsible for their activity. Both CoMFA and CoMSIA yielded statistically significant models upon partial least-squares analyses. The 3D-QSAR analyses showed that hydrogen-bond donor interactions and electrostatic interactions with the protonated amino side chains of the anthrapyrazoles led to high cell growth inhibitory activity.

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