Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry (Jan 2021)

New azolyl-derivatives as multitargeting agents against breast cancer and fungal infections: synthesis, biological evaluation and docking study

  • Cristina Maccallini,
  • Marialucia Gallorini,
  • Francesca Sisto,
  • Atilla Akdemir,
  • Alessandra Ammazzalorso,
  • Barbara De Filippis,
  • Marialuigia Fantacuzzi,
  • Letizia Giampietro,
  • Simone Carradori,
  • Amelia Cataldi,
  • Rosa Amoroso

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/14756366.2021.1954918
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 36, no. 1
pp. 1631 – 1644

Abstract

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Nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitors (NSAIs) are well-established drugs for the therapy of breast cancer. However, they display some serious side effects, and their efficacy can be compromised by the development of chemoresistance. Previously, we have reported different indazole-based carbamates and piperidine-sulphonamides as potent aromatase inhibitors. Starting from the most promising compounds, here we have synthesised new indazole and triazole derivatives and evaluated their biological activity as potential dual agents, targeting both the aromatase and the inducible nitric oxide synthase, being this last dysregulated in breast cancer. Furthermore, selected compounds were evaluated as antiproliferative and cytotoxic agents in the MCF-7 cell line. Moreover, considering the therapeutic diversity of azole-based compounds, all the synthesized compounds were also evaluated as antifungals on different Candida strains. A docking study, as well as molecular dynamics simulation, were carried out to shed light on the binding mode of the most interesting compound into the different target enzymes catalytic sites.

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