Based on the “canonical”
view of reactive oxygen
species’ (ROS) contribution to carcinogenesis, ROS induce oxidative
stress and promote various tumor progression events. However, tumor
cells also need to defend themselves against oxidative damage. This
“heresy” was supported by several recent studies underlining
the role of cellular antioxidant capacity in promoting metastasis
and resistance to chemotherapy. Accordingly, harnessing the ROS-induced
oxidative stress via selective suppression of the cancer antioxidant
defense machinery has been launched as an innovative anticancer strategy.
Within this approach, pharmacological inhibition of superoxide dismutases
(SODs), the first-line defense antioxidant enzymes for cancer cells,
selectively kills tumor cells and circumvents their acquired resistance.
Various SOD inhibitors have been introduced, of which some were tolerated
in clinical trials. However, the hit SOD inhibitors belong to diverse
chemical classes and lack comprehensive structure–activity
relationships (SAR). Herein, we probe the potential of newly synthesized
benzylidene thiazolidinedione derivatives to inhibit SOD in colorectal
cancer with special emphasis on their effects on correlated antioxidant
enzymes aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) and glutathione peroxidase
(GPx). This may possibly bring a new dawn for utilizing thiazolidinediones
(TZDs) in cancer therapy through SOD inhibition mechanisms. The preliminary
3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT)
assay showed that all of the evaluated TZDs exhibited excellent safety
profiles on normal human cells, recording an EC100 of up to 47.5-folds
higher than that of doxorubicin. Compounds
3c
,
6a
, and
6e
(IC50 = 4.4–4.7 μM) were
superior to doxorubicin and other derivatives against Caco-2 colorectal
cancer cells within their safe doses. The hit anticancer agents inhibited
SOD (IC50 = 97.2–228.8 μM). Then, they were selected
for further in-depth evaluation on the cellular level. The anticancer
IC50 doses of
3c
,
6a
, and
6e
diminished the antioxidant activities of SOD (by 29.7, 70.1, and
33.3%, respectively), ALDH1A (by 85.92, 95.84, and 86.48%, respectively),
and GPX (by 50.17, 87.03, and 53.28%, respectively) in the treated
Caco-2 cells, elevating the Caco-2 cellular content of ROS by 21.42,
7.863, and 8.986-folds, respectively. Docking simulations were conducted
to display their possible binding modes and essential structural features.
Also, their physicochemical parameters and pharmacokinetic profiles
formulating drug-likeness were computed.