Molecular Modeling and In Vitro Evaluation of Piplartine Analogs against Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
Rayanne H N SilvaThaíssa Q MachadoAnna Carolina Carvalho da FonsecaEduardo TejeraYunierkis Perez CastilloBruno Kaufmann RobbsDamião Pergentino de SousaPublished in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) (2023)
Cancer is a principal cause of death in the world, and providing a better quality of life and reducing mortality through effective pharmacological treatment remains a challenge. Among malignant tumor types, squamous cell carcinoma-esophageal cancer (EC) is usually located in the mouth, with approximately 90% located mainly on the tongue and floor of the mouth. Piplartine is an alkamide found in certain species of the genus Piper and presents many pharmacological properties including antitumor activity. In the present study, the cytotoxic potential of a collection of piplartine analogs against human oral SCC9 carcinoma cells was evaluated. The analogs were prepared via Fischer esterification reactions, alkyl and aryl halide esterification, and a coupling reaction with PyBOP using the natural compound 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic acid as a starting material. The products were structurally characterized using 1 H and 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, and high-resolution mass spectrometry for the unpublished compounds. The compound 4-methoxy-benzyl 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoate ( 9 ) presented an IC 50 of 46.21 µM, high selectively (SI > 16), and caused apoptosis in SCC9 cancer cells. The molecular modeling study suggested a multi-target mechanism of action for the antitumor activity of compound 9 with CRM1 as the main target receptor.
Keyphrases
- magnetic resonance
- squamous cell carcinoma
- high resolution mass spectrometry
- molecular docking
- endothelial cells
- cardiovascular events
- computed tomography
- cardiovascular disease
- radiation therapy
- cell death
- risk assessment
- high resolution
- cell proliferation
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- cell cycle arrest
- coronary artery disease
- smoking cessation
- human health
- replacement therapy
- molecular dynamics simulations
- simultaneous determination
- solar cells
- electron transfer