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Latest Advances in Heterocyclic Anticancer Compounds

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 2021

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Košice, Slovakia
Interests: drug-DNA/HSA interaction; topoisomerase inhibition; antiproliferative activity of heterocyclic compound; acridine
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Guest Editor
Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Šrobárova 2, 041 54 Košice, Slovakia
Interests: xenobiotics; multiple drug resistance; ABC transport proteins; molecular cytology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heterocyclic compounds have interesting structures and a wide spectrum of biological properties that have made them much-sought-after targets in the development of novel anticancer agents. The aim of this Special Issue is to concentrate on the latest advances in research into heterocyclic compounds and their potential anticancer properties. Based on the most up-to-date results, we propose that the work will offer an overview of antitumor chemotherapy. The biological activity of heterocyclic compounds is mainly attributed to the planarity of the aromatic structures, and it is noteworthy that the position and the nature of the substituents on the heterocyclic core are determinants for the biological properties and also for the observed selectivity. Recent research into the modes of action of these molecules suggests the likelihood of ongoing and exciting results and increased interest in this heterocyclic family. This Issue further pinpoints the latest progress in the development of anticancer agents based on naturally occurring and synthetic heterocycles, with detailed descriptions of in vitro/in vivo studies and clinical trial results.

Dr. Mária Kožurková
Dr. Rastislav Jendželovský
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Heterocyclic compounds
  • Topoisomerase I and II
  • Interaction of heterocyclic molecules with biomacromolecules
  • Anticancer activity

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1518 KiB  
Article
Synthesis of Novel Biologically Active Proflavine Ureas Designed on the Basis of Predicted Entropy Changes
by Ladislav Janovec, Eva Kovacova, Martina Semelakova, Monika Kvakova, Daniel Kupka, David Jager and Maria Kozurkova
Molecules 2021, 26(16), 4860; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26164860 - 11 Aug 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1632
Abstract
A novel series of proflavine ureas, derivatives 11a11i, were synthesized on the basis of molecular modeling design studies. The structure of the novel ureas was obtained from the pharmacological model, the parameters of which were determined from studies of the [...] Read more.
A novel series of proflavine ureas, derivatives 11a11i, were synthesized on the basis of molecular modeling design studies. The structure of the novel ureas was obtained from the pharmacological model, the parameters of which were determined from studies of the structure-activity relationship of previously prepared proflavine ureas bearing n-alkyl chains. The lipophilicity (LogP) and the changes in the standard entropy (ΔS°) of the urea models, the input parameters of the pharmacological model, were determined using quantum mechanics and cheminformatics. The anticancer activity of the synthesized derivatives was evaluated against NCI-60 human cancer cell lines. The urea derivatives azepyl 11b, phenyl 11c and phenylethyl 11f displayed the highest levels of anticancer activity, although the results were only a slight improvement over the hexyl urea, derivative 11j, which was reported in a previous publication. Several of the novel urea derivatives displayed GI50 values against the HCT-116 cancer cell line, which suggest the cytostatic effect of the compounds azepyl 11b–0.44 μM, phenyl 11c–0.23 μM, phenylethyl 11f–0.35 μM and hexyl 11j–0.36 μM. In contrast, the novel urea derivatives 11b, 11c and 11f exhibited levels of cytotoxicity three orders of magnitude lower than that of hexyl urea 11j or amsacrine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Latest Advances in Heterocyclic Anticancer Compounds)
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