Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of 2-Methyl-4,5-Disubstituted Oxazoles as a Novel Class of Highly Potent Antitubulin Agents

Romagnoli, Romeo, Baraldi, Pier Giovanni, Prencipe, Filippo, Oliva, Paola, Baraldi, Stefania, Salvador, Maria Kimatrai, Lopez-Cara, Luisa Carlota, Brancale, Andrea ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9728-3419, Ferla, Salvatore ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5918-9237, Hamel, Ernest, Ronca, Roberto, Bortolozzi, Roberta, Mariotto, Elena, Porcù, Elena, Basso, Giuseppe and Viola, Giampietro 2017. Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of 2-Methyl-4,5-Disubstituted Oxazoles as a Novel Class of Highly Potent Antitubulin Agents. Scientific Reports 7 , 46356. 10.1038/srep46356

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Abstract

Antimitotic agents that interfere with microtubule formation are one of the major classes of cytotoxic drugs for cancer treatment. Multiple 2-methyl-4-(3′,4′,5′-trimethoxyphenyl)-5-substituted oxazoles and their related 4-substituted-5-(3′,4′,5′-trimethoxyphenyl) regioisomeric derivatives designed as cis-constrained combretastatin A-4 (CA-4) analogues were synthesized and evaluated for their antiproliferative activity in vitro against a panel of cancer cell lines and, for selected highly active compounds, interaction with tubulin, cell cycle effects and in vivo potency. Both these series of compounds were characterized by the presence of a common 3′,4′,5′-trimethoxyphenyl ring at either the C-4 or C-5 position of the 2-methyloxazole ring. Compounds 4g and 4i, bearing a m-fluoro-p-methoxyphenyl or p-ethoxyphenyl moiety at the 5-position of 2-methyloxazole nucleus, respectively, exhibited the greatest antiproliferative activity, with IC50 values of 0.35-4.6 nM (4g) and 0.5–20.2 nM (4i), which are similar to those obtained with CA-4. These compounds bound to the colchicine site of tubulin and inhibited tubulin polymerization at submicromolar concentrations. Furthermore, 4i strongly induced apoptosis that follows the mitochondrial pathway. In vivo, 4i in a mouse syngeneic model demonstrated high antitumor activity which significantly reduced the tumor mass at doses ten times lower than that required for CA-4P, suggesting that 4i warrants further evaluation as a potential anticancer drug.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Pharmacy
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
ISSN:	2045-2322
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 May 2017
Date of Acceptance:	20 March 2017
Last Modified:	05 Jan 2024 05:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/100224

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