Appraisal of pyrrole as connecting unit in hydroxamic acid based histone deacetylase inhibitors: Synthesis, anticancer evaluation and molecular docking studies

Abstract

Pyrrole is a biologically active scaffold, which itself possess noticeable anticancer activity against several types of cancer specially leukemia, lymphoma, and myelofibrosis. SAHA and its synthetic analogs has demonstrated potent antitumor activity against numerous human cancer lines and different classes of HDACs. The HDAC inhibitor possessing pyrrole as linker moiety has been developed for anticancer property. The objective of present studies was to incorporate pyrrole as connecting unit in hydroxamic acid based HDAC inhibitors for their anticancer evaluation and molecular docking studies. A series of novel 4-substituted methyl 6-(3-acetyl-2-methyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)hexanoate [3(a-z)] and 4-substituted 6-(3-acetyl-2-methyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)-N-hydroxyhexanamide [4(a-z)] were synthesized. These analogs were evaluated for their anticancer activity using in-vitro method against leukemia (K-562), lung (A-549), breast (MCF-7), and cervical (HeLa) human cancer cell lines using Sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay method, HDAC1 and HDAC6 inhibitory assay and binding mode analysis using molecular docking studies. The in-vitro studies of 3(a-z) indicated that substitution with electron donating groups produces active or moderately active compounds. Interestingly, p-nitro-substituted molecule produced a most active derivative in the series. The in-vitro anticancer study of 4(a-z) indicated that the unsubstituted phenyl derivative, 6-(3-acetyl-2-methyl-4-phenyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)-N-hydroxy-hexanamide (4a) have moderate antitumor activity against K-562 human leukemia cell line. Substitution at 4-phenyl ring with weak and moderate electron withdrawing groups, such as fluoro, chloro, and bromo potentiated the cytotoxic activity. The 4(a-z)] were docked against different HDAC proteins to determine the exact binding mode and orientation. These synthetic analogs have similar binding mode as SAHA on the active pocket. The pyrrole based novel SAHA analogs 3(a-z) and 4(a-z) displayed promising anticancer activity. These studies can be further employed for the design and development of novel SAHA analogs with promising anticancer activity.