Ashraf H. Bayoumi

Design, Synthesis and Cytotoxic Evaluation of Novel Chalcone Derivatives Bearing Triazolo[4,3-a]-quinoxaline Moieties as Potent Anticancer Agents with Dual EGFR Kinase and Tubulin Polymerization Inhibitory Effects

A series of hybrid of triazoloquinoxaline-chalcone derivatives 7a–k were designed, synthesized, fully characterized, and evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against three target cell lines: human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), human colon carcinoma (HCT-116), and human hepatocellular carcinoma (HEPG-2). The preliminary results showed that some of these chalcones like 7b–c, and 7e–g exhibited significant antiproliferative effects against most of the cell lines, with selective or non-selective behavior, indicated by IC50 values in the 1.65 to 34.28 µM range. In order to investigate the mechanistic aspects of these active compounds, EGFR TK and tubulin inhibitory activities were measured as further biological assays. The EGFR TK assay results revealed that the derivatives 7a–c, 7e, and 7g could inhibit the EGFR TK in the submicromolar range (0.093 to 0.661 µM). Moreover, an antitubulin polymerization effect was noted for the active derivatives compared to the reference drug colchicine, with compounds 7e and 7g displaying 14.7 and 8.4 micromolar activity, respectively. Furthermore, a molecular docking study was carried out to explain the observed effects and the binding modes of these chalcones with the EGFR TK and tubulin targets.

Design, synthesis and anticancer evaluation of 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives as potent EGFRWT and EGFRT790M inhibitors and apoptosis inducers

In our attempt to develop effective EGFR-TKIs, two series of 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives were designed and synthesized. All the newly synthesized compounds were evaluated in vitro for their inhibitory activities against EGFRWT. Compounds 15b, 15j, and 18d potently inhibited EGFRWT at sub-micro molar IC50 values comparable to that of erlotinib. Moreover, thirteen compounds that showed promising IC50 values against EGFRWT were tested in vitro for their inhibitory activities against mutant EGFRT790M. Compounds 17d and 17f exhibited potent inhibitory activities towards EGFRT790M comparable to osimertinib. Compounds that showed promising IC50 values against EGFRWT were further tested for their anti-proliferative activities against three cancer cell lines bearing EGFRWT (MCF-7, HepG2, A549), and two cancer cell lines bearing EGFRT790M (H1975 and HCC827). Compounds 15g, 15j, 15n, 18d and 18e were the most potent anticancer agents against the EGFRWT containing cells, while compounds 15e, 17d and 17f showed promising anti-proliferative activities against EGFRT790M containing cells. Furthermore, the most active compound 18d was selected for further studies regarding to its effects on cell cycle progression and induction of apoptosis in the HepG2 cell line. The results indicated that this compound is good apoptotic agent and arrests G0/G1and G2/M phases of cell cycle. Finally, molecular docking studies were performed to investigate binding pattern of the synthesized compounds with the prospective targets, EGFRWT (PDB: 4HJO) and EGFRT790M (PDB: 3W2O).