Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of N-((1-benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methyl)-1,3-diphenyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamides as CDK1/Cdc2 inhibitors

Abstract

A series of new (N-((1-benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methyl)-1,3-diphenyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide derivatives (8–35) were designed, synthesized and evaluated as CDK1/Cdc2 inhibitors. Biological evaluation assays indicated that compounds 16 and 27 showed the most potent growth inhibitory activity against human cancer cell lines (MIAPaCa-2, MCF-7 and HeLa) with GI50 values ranging from 0.13 to 0.7 μM, compared with the positive control nocodazole (0.81–0.95 μM). Flow cytometric analysis revealed that these compounds induce cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase and Western blot analysis suggested that compound treatment resulted in reduction of CDK1 expression levels in MCF-7 cell line. Moreover, the apoptosis inducing effect of the compounds was studied using Hoechst staining, Rhodamine 123 staining (MMP), carboxy-DCFDA staining (ROS), Annexin V-FITC assay. Based on these studies, two compounds 16 and 27 have been identified as promising new molecules that have the potential to be developed as leads.