Rational design and synthesis of novel anti-prostate cancer agents bearing a 3,5-bis-trifluoromethylphenyl moiety.
Prostate cancer is a major cause of male death worldwide and the identification of new and improved treatments is constantly required. Among the available options, different non-steroidal androgen receptor (AR) antagonists are approved also to treat castration-resistant forms. Most of these drugs show limited application due to the development of resistant mutants of their biological target. Following docking-based studies on a homology model for the AR open antagonist conformation, a series of novel 3,5-bis-trifluoromethylphenyl compounds was designed with the aim to improve the antiproliferative activity of anti-androgen drugs bicalutamide and enzalutamide. The new structural modifications might impede the receptor to adopt its closed agonist conformation also in the presence of adaptive mutations. Among the novel compounds synthesised, several displayed significantly improved in vitro activity in comparison with the parent structures, with IC50 values in the low micromolar range against four different prostate cancer cell lines (LNCaP, VCaP, DU-145, 22Rv1). Selected hits demonstrated full AR antagonistic behaviour and promising candidates for further development were identified.
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, CF10 3NB Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Salvatore
S
Ferla
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, CF10 3NB Cardiff, Wales, UK. Electronic address: bassettom@cardiff.ac.uk.
Marcella
M
Bassetto
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, CF10 3NB Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Fabrizio
F
Pertusati
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, CF10 3NB Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Sahar
S
Kandil
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, CF10 3NB Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Andrew D
AD
Westwell
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, CF10 3NB Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Andrea
A
Brancale
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, CF10 3NB Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Christopher
C
McGuigan
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D015195:Drug Design; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D062105:Molecular Docking Simulation; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014992:Xylenes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D014992:Xylenes
Androgen-receptor; Homology modelling; Prostate cancer; Rational drug design