Molecules (Nov 2020)

Design, Synthesis, and Molecular Docking of Paracyclophanyl-Thiazole Hybrids as Novel CDK1 Inhibitors and Apoptosis Inducing Anti-Melanoma Agents

  • Ashraf A. Aly,
  • Stefan Bräse,
  • Alaa A. Hassan,
  • Nasr K. Mohamed,
  • Lamiaa E. Abd El-Haleem,
  • Martin Nieger,
  • Nesrin M. Morsy,
  • Mohammed B. Alshammari,
  • Mahmoud A. A. Ibrahim,
  • Elshimaa M. N. Abdelhafez

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25235569
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 23
p. 5569

Abstract

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Three new series of paracyclophanyl-dihydronaphtho[2,3-d]thiazoles and paracyclophanyl-thiazolium bromides were designed, synthesized, and characterized by their spectroscopic data, along with X-ray analysis. One-dose assay results of anticancer activity indicated that 3a–e had the highest ability to inhibit the proliferation of different cancer cell lines. Moreover, the hybrids 3c–e were selected for five-dose analyses to demonstrate a broad spectrum of antitumor activity without apparent selectivity. Interestingly, series I compounds (Z)-N-substituted-4,9-dihydronaphtho[2,3-d]thiazol-3(2H)-yl)-4′-[2.2]paracyclophanylamide) that are carrying 1,4-dihydronaphthoquinone were more active as antiproliferative agents than their naphthalene-containing congeners (series II: substituted 2-(4′-[2.2]paracyclophanyl)hydrazinyl)-4-(naphth-2-yl)-thiazol-3-ium bromide hybrids) and (series III: 3-(4′-[2.2]paracyclophanyl)amido-2-(cyclopropylamino)-4-(naphth-2-yl)thiazol-3-ium bromide) toward the SK-MEL-5 melanoma cell line. Further antiproliferation investigations of 3c and 3e on the healthy, normal unaffected SK-MEL-5 cell line indicated their relative safety. Compound 3c showed an inhibition of eight isoforms of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK); however, it exhibited the lowest IC50 of 54.8 nM on CDK1 in comparison to Dinaciclib as a reference. Additionally, compound 3c revealed a remarkable downregulation of phospho-Tyr15 with a level (7.45 pg/mL) close to the reference. 3c mainly showed cell cycle arrest in the pre-G1 and G2/M phases upon analysis of the SK-MEL-5 cell line. The sequential caspase-3 assay for 3c indicated a remarkable overexpression level. Finally, a molecular docking study was adopted to elucidate the binding mode and interactions of the target compounds with CDK1.

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