title: Functionalized 3-benzylidene-indolin-2-ones: inducers of NAD(P)H-quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) with antiproliferative activity.
abstract: Functionalized benzylidene-indolin-2-ones are widely associated with antiproliferative activity. The scaffold is not normally associated with chemoprevention in spite of the presence of a nitrogen-linked Michael acceptor moiety that may predispose members to induction of NQO1, a widely used biomarker of chemopreventive potential. To investigate this possibility, we have synthesized and evaluated a series of functionalized 3-benzylidene-indolin-2-ones for induction of NQO1 in murine Hepa1c1c7 cells as well as antiproliferative activity against two human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, HCT116). The benzylideneindolinones were found to be good inducers of NQO1 activity, with 85% of test compounds able to increase basal NQO1 activity by more than twofold at concentrations of 10 microM. By contrast, fewer compounds (11%) tested at the same concentration were able to reduce cell viability by more than 50%. Structure activity relationships showed that the nitrogen linked Michael acceptor moiety was an essential requirement for both activities. This common feature notwithstanding, substitution of the 3-benzylidene-indolin-2-one core structure affected NQO1 induction and antiproliferative activities in dissimilar ways, underscoring different structural requirements for these two activities. Nonetheless, promising compounds (10, 42, 45-48) were identified that combine selective induction of NQO1 with potent antiproliferative activity. A potential advantage of such agents would be the ability to provide added protection to normal cells by the up-regulation of NQO1 and other phase II enzymes while simultaneously targeting neoplastic cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Mei-Lin
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Go
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001597:Benzylidene Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D006801:Humans; D007211:Indoles / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009243:NAD / Q000378:metabolism; D016660:NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase (Quinone) / Q000378:metabolism*; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001597:Benzylidene Compounds; D007211:Indoles; C456900:indolin-2-one; D009243:NAD; D016660:NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase (Quinone); C447479:NQO1 protein, human