Discovery and evaluation of cytisine N-isoflavones as novel EGFR/HER2 dual inhibitors

Abstract

Aberrant signaling of EGFR (ErbB) family members, in particular epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2), is associated with the occurrence and development of many types of human malignancies (e.g., breast, lung, and gastric cancers), and dual targeting of EGFR/HER2 by small-molecular inhibitors has proven to be an effective therapeutic approach for treating these cancers. Herein we extracted and isolated from the medicinal plant Sophora alopecuroides L. a new natural product, dubbed Cytisine N-methylene-(4′,7-dihydroxy-3′-methoxy)-isoflavone (CNI1) that features a unique molecular framework. Our biochemical kinase assay suggested that one of its derivative CNI3 exhibited the best, micromolar (μM) inhibition activities against the EGFR (IC50 of 1.1 μM; Ki of 0.6 μM) and HER2 (IC50 of 3.5 μM; Ki of 1.8 μM) kinases. By contrast, another derivative CNI4 was most potent in inhibiting the EGFR-overexpressing A431 cancer cell line (IC50 of 45.5 μM) and the HER2-overexpressing BT-474 cancer cell line (IC50 of 32.9 μM), while the respective cellular activities of Lapatinib (a marketed drug) were 24.9 and 20.3 μM under the same assay condition. Moreover, both CNI3 and CNI4 showed desirable anti-metastatic efficacy in another two breast cancer models (viz., MDA-MB-231 and 4T1). In addition, we explored the inhibitory mechanisms of the CNIs against EGFR and HER2 by molecular dynamics simulation and revealed a novel mode of action that engages the cytisine and chromone moieties in CNIs. By combining structure- and ligand-based analysis, we further rationally engineered a new CNI compound that exhibits considerably improved cytotoxicity against both types of A431 and BT-474 cancer cells. Our study demonstrates the CNI compounds as a new class of EGFR/HER2 dual inhibitors and paves a way for their further development.