G Model
CCLET 3431 1–6
L. Li et al. / Chinese Chemical Letters xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
5
Fig. 1. 2D-presentation for the binding interactions of compound 6i with VEGFR and PI3K kinase domain. (A) Compound 6i with VEGFR; (B) compound 6i with PI3K.
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line were the reverse of the latter. 3,4-Dichloro substituted on
benzene ring increased the activity in both HepG2 and MDA-MB-
231. Similar results were produced for the 2-benzamidothiazole
derivatives in which the chloro group was better than the methoxy
group on position 2 of the pyridine ring.
In order to increase the rigidity of compounds and shorten the
length of the chain, methane was removed in order to synthesize a
series of 2-(3-phenyl) ureidothiazole-4-formamide derivatives
6h–6o. The best results were obtained with compounds 6h–
6l. This may be attributed to hydrogen bond formation at the
receptor site. Basis on compounds 5d, 5r, 6g, compounds 6h, 6i
were synthesized and exhibited good activity in the two cell lines.
Compound 6l was produced by exchanging the chloro group with a
fluoro group on 6k. The activity had no significant increase. We
tried changing the pyridine ring to indazole and received
compounds 6n and 6o, which resulted in decreased activity
against HepG2 and the same activity for MDA-MB-231.
By observing anticancer activity from the data in Table 1 and
Table 2, it was concluded that compounds 5a–5r possess an amide
linker while compounds 6a–6o have a urea group linker. The best
results were obtained with compounds 6h–6l, which exhibited
high potency against HepG2 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines with a
urea linker. It was decided that the urea and 4-formamide are
optimum for this series of compounds against HepG2 and MDA-
MB-231 cell lines.
compound 6f showed moderate PI3Ka inhibitory activity and 253
slightly weaker VEGFR-2 inhibitory activity.
254
3.4. Molecular docking
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In order to better understand the interaction between 256
compounds and VEGFR and PI3K kinases, compound 6i was 257
selected as a representative example for this series of compounds 258
for molecular docking studies using the Discovery Studio 3.1/ 259
CDOCKER protocol [18,19]. The VEGFR-2 docking study revealed 260
that the 6i formed three strong hydrogen bonds, one
p
–p
261
interaction, and one cation– interaction between the binding site 262
p
and the ligand (Fig. 1A). Two hydrogen bonds were formed 263
between phenolic hydroxyl and CYS919, and the other one was 264
formed between the urea hydrogen atom and GLU885. The
p
–p
265
interaction and cation–
and LYS868, respectively.
p
interaction were formed with PHE918 266
267
Compound 6i was also docked onto the PI3K-binding domain. 268
Fig. 1B demonstrates that the ligand 6i formed three hydrogen 269
bonds with the protein. The phenolic hydroxyl oxygen atom and 270
carbonyl oxygen atom as hydrogen bond acceptor formed two 271
hydrogen bonds with LYS833. Also the urea group as hydrogen 272
bond donors formed one hydrogen bond with VAL882. The docking 273
analysis indicated that compound 6i fit into the binding site of 274
VEGFR and PI3K kinases suggesting that this compound may be a 275
potent VEGFR and PI3K inhibitor.
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3.3.2. Kinase inhibition
The docking analysis indicated that compound 6i fit into the 277
binding site of VEGFR and PI3K kinases suggesting that this 278
Compounds 5n, 6f, 6i and 6j were selected for further
evaluation in VEGFR2 and PI3K
a
kinases inhibition assays at the
compound may be a potent VEGFR and PI3K inhibitor.
279
concentration of 20 mol/L with Staurosporine and PI103 as
m
controls, respectively. As the kinase assay results reveal in Table 3
compound 5n showed no obvious kinase inhibition against both
VEGFR2 and PI3K kinases. Compound 6f showed selective kinases
inhibition with lower for VEGFR2 (7.03%) but better against PI3K
(38.77%). Furthermore, compounds 6f, 6i and 6j exhibit moderate
4. Conclusion
280
In summary, a series of novel compounds possessing a 2- 281
aminothiazole scaffold were prepared. Most of the modified 282
compounds showed tantamount or better cytotoxicity against 283
either HepG2 or MDA-MB-231 cell lines. Compounds 6h–6l 284
showed higher and better potency against the two cancer cell 285
lines than Sorafenib. SARs studies indicated that a benzene ring 286
and thiazole ring linked by urea, and as well as removal of the 287
methane group, are crucial for the antitumor activity. The 288
molecular docking studies and the results of kinase inhibition 289
assay in vitro suggest that compound 6i may be a potent VEGFR-2 290
a
inhibitory activities against VEGFR2 kinase within the range of 26–
36% and good PI3K
result is consistent with cell cytotoxicity activity. Our findings
suggest that compounds 6i and 6j exhibit good PI3K inhibitory
a inhibitory activity in the range of 38–58%. This
a
activity and moderate VEGFR-2 inhibitory activities, while
Table 3
and PI3Ka dual inhibitor. The 2-aminothiazole scaffold may be 291
Inhibitory activity of compounds selected with two kinases (inhibitory rate, %) at
20 mmol/L.
considered a promising structure for future designs of VEGFR-2 292
and PI3K
a
dual inhibitors.
Q4293
Compound
VEGFR2 (%)
PI3Ka (%)
5n
8.82
7.03
36.58
26.95
99.71
–
2.03
38.77
58.44
54.26
–
Acknowledgments
294
6f
6i
6j
The authors would like to thank the financial supports from the 295
NSFC (No. 21272134) and Shenzhen Municipal government SZSITIC Q5296
(Nos. JCYJ20130402145002384, ZDSY20120619141412872).
Staurosporine
PI103
99.94
297
Please cite this article in press as: L. Li, et al., Discovery of novel dual inhibitors of VEGFR and PI3K kinases containing 2-ureidothiazole