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In previous studies, we synthesized different imidazo-pyrazoles 1 and 2 with interesting anticancer, anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory activities. To further extend the structure-activity relationships of imidazo-pyrazole scaffold and to identify novel antiproliferative/anti-inflammatory agents potentially active with multi-target mechanisms, a library of compounds 3-5 has been designed and synthesized. The chemical modifications characterizing the novel derivatives include: i) decoration of the catechol ring with groups with different electronic, steric and lipophilic properties (compounds 3); ii) insertion of a methyl group on C-6 of imidazo-pyrazole scaffold (compounds 4); iii) shift of the acylhydrazonic substituent from position 7 to 6 of the imidazo-pyrazole substructure (compounds 5). All synthesized compounds were tested against a panel of cancer and normal cell lines. Derivatives 3 a, 3 e, 4 c, 5 g and 5 h showed IC 50 values in the low micromolar range against selected tumor cell lines and proved to have antioxidant properties, being able to inhibit ROS production in human platelet. In silico calculation predicted favourable drug-like and pharmacokinetic properties for the most promising compounds. Furthermore, molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations suggested the ability of most active derivative 3 e to interact with colchicine binding site in the polymeric tubulin α/tubulin β/stathmin4 complex., (© 2023 The Authors. ChemMedChem published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The indole scaffold has been recognized, over the years, as a model for the synthesis of compounds with anticancer activity by dint of its substantiated ability to act via multiple mechanisms, which also involves the inhibition of enzymes engaged in DNA replication. In this regard, a new series of indole and pyranoindole derivatives have been prepared, some of which showed good antitumor activity and proved their inhibitory effects on the tubulin target. The anticancer activity of the newly synthesized compounds has been evaluated on breast cancer cell lines, as MCF-7 and MDA-MB231, cervical cancer cells line HeLa and Ishikawa endometrial cancer cell line. Among the compounds under study, 7 exhibited a good antitumor activity on HeLa cell line (IC 50  = 3.6 ± 0.5), leading to cell death by apoptosis due to the inhibition of tubulin polymerization, which demonstrated that the compound can explicate its function in a similar way to Vinblastine, a well-known inhibitor of tubulin polymerization. The data were also confirmed by in silico assays. No cytotoxicity against normal cells has been detected. Furthermore, in order to investigate the antioxidant properties, DPPH and ABTS tests were performed, together with fluorescence assays on 3T3-L1 cells. All our findings taken together led us to consider compound 7 a favourable candidate for the battle against cancer., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Breast cancer is still considered a high-incidence disease, and numerous are the research efforts for the development of new useful and effective therapies. Among anticancer drugs, carbazole compounds are largely studied for their anticancer properties and their ability to interfere with specific targets, such as microtubule components. The latter are involved in vital cellular functions, and the perturbation of their dynamics leads to cell cycle arrest and subsequent apoptosis. In this context, we report the anticancer activity of a series of carbazole analogues 1–8. Among them, 2-nitrocarbazole 1 exhibited the best cytotoxic profile, showing good anticancer activity against two breast cancer cell lines, namely MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, with IC50 values of 7 ± 1.0 and 11.6 ± 0.8 μM, respectively. Furthermore, compound 1 did not interfere with the growth of the normal cell line MCF-10A, contrarily to Ellipticine, a well-known carbazole derivative used as a reference molecule. Finally, in vitro immunofluorescence analysis and in silico studies allowed us to demonstrate the ability of compound 1 to interfere with tubulin organization, similarly to vinblastine: a feature that results in triggering MCF-7 cell death by apoptosis, as demonstrated using a TUNEL assay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report the synthesis and the multiple anti-tumor properties of new gold and silver carbene complexes. The chemical modifications, grounded on our previous studies, led us to identify a good lead complex, gold-based, whose biological features are very exciting and promising in the anti-cancer research and could be further developed. Indeed, the bis-[4,5-dichloro-(N-methyl-N'(2-hydroxy-2-phenyl)ethyl-imidazole-2-ylidene)gold(I)]+[dichloro-gold]− (AuL7) complex possesses the ability to interfere with at least three important and different intracellular targets, namely the human topoisomerases I and II and tubulin, which are able to modulate metabolic processes not directly correlated each other. We proved that the modifications of the ligands structure in AuL7, with respect to another already published complex, i.e., bis-[4,5-dichloro-(N-methyl-N'(cyclopentane-2ol)-imidazole-2-ylidine)gold(I)]+[dichloro-gold]− (AuL4), produce a different behavior toward tubulin-polymerization process, since AuL7 is a tubulin-polymerization inhibitor and AuL4 a stabilizer, with the final same result of hampering the tumor growth. Taken together, our outcomes designate AuL7 as a promising compound for the development of multi-targeted anti-cancer therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]