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Recently, we have identified a biphenyl-aryl urea incorporated with salicylaldoxime (BPS-7) as an anti-angiogenesis agent. Herein, we disclosed a series of novel anti-angiogenesis agents with BPS-7 as lead compound through combining diarylureas with N-pyridin-2-ylcyclopropane carboxamide. Several title compounds exhibited simultaneous inhibition effects against three pro-angiogenic RTKs (VEGFR-2, TIE-2 and EphB4). Some of them displayed potent anti-proliferative activity against human vascular endothelial cell (EA.hy926). In particular, two potent compounds (CDAU-1 and CDAU-2) could be considered as promising anti-angiogenesis agents with triplet inhibition profile. The biological evaluation and molecular docking results indicate that N-pyridin-2-ylcyclopropane carboxamide could serve as a hinge-binding group (HBG) for the discovery of multi-target anti-angiogenesis agents. CDAU-2 also exhibited promising anti-angiogenic potency in a tissue model for angiogenesis.

Tumor growth and metastasis are responsible for most cancer patients' deaths. Here, we report that eupolyphaga sinensis walker has an essential role in resisting hepatocellular carcinoma growth and metastasis. Compared with proliferation, colony formation, transwell assay and transplantable tumor in nude mouse in vitro and vivo, eupolyphaga sinensis walker extract (ESWE) showed good inhibition on the SMMC-7721 cell growth and metastasis. Using genome-wide microarray analysis, we found the down-regulated growth and metastasis factors, and selected down-regulated genes were confirmed by real-time PCR. Knockdown of a checkpoint PKCβ by siRNA significantly attenuated tumor inhibition and metastasis effects of ESWE. Moreover, our results indicate ESWE inhibits HCC growth by not only downregulating the signaling of PKCβ, Akt, m-TOR, Erk1/2, MEK-2, Raf and JNK-1, but also increasing cyclin D1 protein levels and decreasing amount of cyclin E, cyclin B1 and cdc2 of the cycle proteins. At the same time, ESWE reduced MMP2, MMP9 and CXCR4, PLG, NFκB and P53 activities. Overall, our studies demonstrate that ESWE is a key factor in growth and metastasis signaling inhibitor targeting the PKC, AKT, MAPK signaling and related metastasis signaling, having potential in cancer therapy.

A novel tissue model for angiogenesis (TMA) is established for effective evaluation of angiogenesis inhibitors or promoters in vitro. Lung tissues were cultured in fibrinogen "sandwich" structure which resembled the formation of neovessels in vivo. The cells and capillary-like structures grew from the lung tissues were identified as endothelial cells and neovessels. Both immunohistochemisty and western blot results indicated that autocrine VEGF bound to the KDR and induced KDR autophosphorylation that could induce the proliferation of endothelial cells and their migration as well as the formation of microvessels on the lung tissue edge. With addition of the TMA, the murine VEGF and cultured medium produced by A549 tumor cells apparently promoted the increase of neovessels. Sorafenib as a tumor angiogenesis inhibitor and Tongxinluo as an angiogenesis promoter were both used to evaluate the TMA performance and they exhibited a good effect on neovessels in the TMA. The model established imitated angiogenesis in vivo and could well serve as an effective method in evaluating the angiogenesis inhibitors or promoters, and could also be practical for screening small molecules that affect blood vessel formation.