Pharmaceuticals (May 2022)

Novel Soloxolone Amides as Potent Anti-Glioblastoma Candidates: Design, Synthesis, In Silico Analysis and Biological Activities In Vitro and In Vivo

  • Andrey V. Markov,
  • Anna A. Ilyina,
  • Oksana V. Salomatina,
  • Aleksandra V. Sen’kova,
  • Alina A. Okhina,
  • Artem D. Rogachev,
  • Nariman F. Salakhutdinov,
  • Marina A. Zenkova

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ph15050603
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 5
p. 603

Abstract

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The modification of natural or semisynthetic triterpenoids with amines can be explored as a promising strategy for improving their pharmacological properties. Here, we report the design and synthesis of 11 novel amide derivatives of soloxolone methyl (SM), a cyano enone-bearing derivative of 18βH-glycyrrhetinic acid. Analysis of their bioactivities in vitro and in silico revealed their high toxicity against a panel of tumor cells (average IC50(24h) = 3.7 µM) and showed that the formation of amide moieties at the C-30 position of soloxolone did not enhance the cytotoxicity of derivatives toward tumor cells compared to SM, though it can impart an ability to pass across the blood–brain barrier. Further HPLC–MS/MS and mechanistic studies verified significant brain accumulation of hit compound 12 (soloxolone tryptamide) in a murine model and showed its high anti-glioblastoma potential. It was found that 12 induced ROS-dependent and autophagy-independent death of U87 and U118 glioblastoma cells via mitochondrial apoptosis and effectively blocked their clonogenicity, motility and capacity to form vessel-like structures. Further in vivo study demonstrated that intraperitoneal injection of 12 at a dosage of 20 mg/kg effectively inhibited the growth of U87 glioblastoma in a mouse xenograft model, reducing the proliferative potential of the tumor and leading to a depletion of collagen content and normalization of blood vessels in tumor tissue. The obtained results clearly demonstrate that 12 can be considered as a promising leading compound for drug development in glioblastoma treatment.

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