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Through a structure-based molecular hybridization approach, a series of novel benzothiazole derivatives bearing indole-based moiety were designed, synthesized and screened for in vitro antitumor activity against four cancer cell lines (HT29, H460, A549 and MDA-MB-231). Most of them showed moderate to excellent activity against all the tested cell lines. Among them, compounds 20a-w with substituted benzyl-1H-indole moiety showed better selectivity against HT29 cancer cell line than other compounds. Compound 20d exhibited excellent antitumor activity with IC50 values of 0.024, 0.29, 0.84 and 0.88 μM against HT29, H460, A549 and MDA-MB-231, respectively. Further mechanism studies indicated that the marked pharmacological activity of compound 20d might be ascribed to activation of procaspase-3 (apoptosis-inducing) and cell cycle arrest, which had emerged as a lead for further structural modifications. Furthermore, 3D-QSAR model (training set: q(2) = 0.850, r(2) = 0.987, test set: r(2) = 0.811) was built to provide a comprehensive guide for further structural modification and optimization.

A novel series of benzothiazole derivatives bearing the ortho-hydroxy-N-acylhydrazone moiety were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their procaspase-3 kinase activation activities and antiproliferative activities against five cancer cell lines (NCI-H226, SK-N-SH, HT29, MKN-45, and MDA-MB-231). Most target compounds showed moderate to excellent cytotoxic activity against all five tested cancer lines. The most promising compound 18e (procaspase-3 EC50  = 0.31 µM) with IC50 values ranging from 0.24 to 0.92µM against all tested cell lines was 4.24-12.2 times more active than PAC-1 (procaspase-3 EC50  = 0.41 µM). Structure-activity relationship studies indicated that the phenyl group on the 2-hydroxyphenyl ring (moiety A) was critical for pharmacological activity in vitro. In addition, introduction of a benzyloxyl group on moiety A and a mono-electron-withdrawing group at the 4-position of the benzyloxyl group were more favorable for antitumor activity. Moreover, reduction of the electron density in the phenyl ring of the benzyloxy group led to a dramatic decrease in the procaspase-3 kinase activation activity.

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A series of rhodanine-containing sorafenib analogs was designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in-vitro antitumor activity against three cancer cell lines (A549, H460 and HT29). Pharmacological data indicated that some of the target compounds possessed marked antiproliferative activity superior to the reference drug sorafenib, especially the most promising compound 7r (with the IC(50) value of 0.8, 1.3 and 2.8 µM against A549, H460 and HT29 cell lines, respectively). The activity was found to strongly depend on the substitution pattern of the rhodanine motif at C-5″ position. Results suggested that this series of compounds could serve as the bases for the development of novel antitumor agents.

Based on the hybrid pharmacophore design concept, a novel series of dual diaryl urea and N-acylhydrazone derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity by the standard MTT assay. The pharmacological results indicated that most compounds exhibited moderate to excellent activity. Moreover, compound 2g showed the most potent cytotoxicity against HL-60, A549 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines, with IC 50 values of 0.22, 0.34 and 0.41 μM, respectively, which was 3.8 to 22.5 times more active than the reference compounds sorafenib and PAC-1. The promising compound 2g thus emerges as a lead for further structural modifications.

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