Synthesis and anticancer activity of new dihydropyrimidinone derivatives.

A series of dihydropyrimidinone derivatives bearing various N -heterocyclic moieties was designed and synthesized. Twelve new compounds were screened for their cytotoxic activity using 60 cancer cell lines according to NCI (USA) protocol. Compound 19 showed a significant activity against NCI-H460, SK-MEL-5, and HL-60 (TB) cell lines with growth inhibition 88%, 86% and 85%, respectively, and was found to be more safe on normal cells when compared to doxorubicin. Enzyme inhibition assay was performed for compound 19 against mTOR (IC 50  = 0.64 μM) and VEGFR-2 (IC 50  = 1.97 μM) to show high potency in comparison to rapamycin (IC 50  = 0.43 μM) and sorafenib (IC 50  = 0.3 μM) as references, respectively. Cell cycle analysis of A549 cells treated with 19 showed cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and pro-apoptotic activity as indicated by annexin V-FITC staining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]