ring had a positive effect on phosphorylated EGFR inhibition.
Furthermore, compound 19g showed encouraging inhibitory
potency against EGFR at 1µM which almost could completely
inhibit the expression of phosphorylated EGFR.
Compounds 19a-19h were synthesized to seek for more
potent EGFR inhibitors and to investigate whether methyl group
at C-2 position of quinazoline ring can improve the antitumor
activity of 4-anilinoquinazoline. By comparing the biological
results of compounds 19a-19h with the inhibitor potency of
compound 9b, it was concluded that 3-aminopropanamide at C-6
position could greatly improve the antitumor potency of 4-
anilinoquinazolines. Replacing the morpholine of 19a with other
amines, including piperazine (19b), dimethyllamine (19c), and
methanamine (19d), caused increase of the inhibitor potency,
especially of compounds 19c and 19d against H1975. A similar
trend was also reported in the series 19e-19h with methyl group
appending at C-2 position of quinazoline ring. Comparing the
antitumor potency of compounds 19a-19d with compounds 19e-
19h, it was revealed that methyl group at C-2 position of
quinazoline ring could significantly improve the antitumor
potency. All the compounds of 19a-19h showed excellent
inhibitor potency that was comparable or even better than that of
positive control gefitinib, especially compound 19c (0.36µM)
and 19g (0.11µM).
In conclusion, series of 4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives were
facilely and efficiently synthesized and their EGFR inhibitor
activity was evaluated by MTT assay in three human tumor cell
lines. Compounds 9a-9j were synthesized to elucidate the
structure activity relationship of 4-arylamino. Novel compounds
19a-19h were synthesized to seek for more powerful EGFR
inhibitors and to explore whether methyl group at C-2 position of
quinazoline ring could improve the inhibitor potency of 4-
anilinoquinazolines. Fortunately, compound 19g was found
extremely potent against H1975 cells with an IC50 value of
0.11µM according to the MTT assay. By comparing the IC50
values of compounds 19a-19h, it was concluded that methyl
group at C-2 position of quinazoline ring had a positive effect on
tumor cell proliferation. And the same conclusion was also drawn
according to the results of Western blotting analysis.
Acknoledgements
The present work was supported by the Program for Chang
Jiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (No.
IRT1174), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
20872118, 30070905), the Foundation of the Technology
Department of Shaanxi Province (2015SF074).
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In order to determine the EGFR inhibitor potency of 19a-
19h, compounds 19c and 19g were examined to determin their
abilities to inhibit EGFR autophosphorlation in the H1975 cell
line. Results of Western blotting analysis are shown in Figure 2.
Both the tested compounds 19c and 19g exhibited more potent
inhibitory potency than that of gefitinib at the same concentration.
The column height of the last group incubated with 1µM of
compound 19g was lower than that of the group incubated with
19c, indicating that methyl group at C-2 position of quinazoline