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Abstract: Two benzophenone glucopyranosides have been isolated from the nut shell part of Mahkota Dewa. The structures were identified as 2,4′,6-trihydroxy-4-methoxy-benzophenone-2-O-β-d-glucoside (Mahkoside A) and 2,4′,6-trihydroxy-4-methoxy-6″-acetyl-benzophenone-2-O-β-d-glucoside (Mahkoside B). Mahkoside B was recognized as a novel compound. Furthermore, a series of benzophenone glucopyranoside derivatives (compounds 3–18) were synthesized and their bioactivities were characterized. Our results demonstrated that compound 18 has significant cytotoxicity against two esophageal cancer cell lines, stomach cancer cell line and prostate cancer cell line, with IC50 less than 10μM, indicating its potential activity against cancer cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Thirty-two tetra-acylated derivatives of alisol A were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) activities and cytotoxicities in vitro. Among the series of alisol A derivatives examined, five analogues were active against HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and HBV e antigen (HBeAg) secretion in HepG 2.2.15 cells. These results also provide interesting structure–activity relationships of tetra-acylalisol A derivatives. Compounds tetra-acetyl alisol A (A1), tetra-methoxyacetyl alisol A (A23), and tetra-ethoxyacetyl alisol A (A24) exhibited high activities against secretion of HBsAg with IC50 values of 0.0048, 0.0044, and 0.014mM, respectively, HBeAg with IC50 values of 0.011, 0.012, and 0.018mM, respectively, and remarkable selective index values SIHBsAg >333, SIHBeAg >145; SIHBsAg =209, SIHBeAg =77; and SIHBsAg >200, SIHBeAg >156, respectively. Additional studies in rats showed that compound A1 has favorable pharmacokinetic prosperities for further development purpose, with elimination half-time (t 1/2) of 1.63h and oral bioavailability (F) of 40.9%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Chemical modifications were performed on hydroxyl groups at C-11,23,24,25 positions and C-13(17) double bond of alisol A for structure–activity relationship study. Forty-one derivatives of alisol A were synthesized and assayed for their in vitro anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) activities and cytotoxicities. Of them, 14 compounds were active against HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and HBV e antigen (HBeAg) secretion in HepG 2.2.15 cells, and the most promising compound 25 exhibited high activities against secretion of HBsAg (IC50 =0.028mM), HBeAg (IC50 =0.027mM) and remarkable selective indices (SIHBsAg >90, SIHBeAg >93). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of alisol A derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) activities and cytotoxicities in vitro. The preliminary investigation demonstrates that simple modifications of the parent structure of alisol A can produce a number of potentially important derivatives against HBV. The most active anti-HBV compound 6a showed high activities against the secretion of HBV surface antigen (IC50 =0.024mM), HBV e antigen (IC50 =0.028mM) and remarkable selective indices (SIHBsAg >108, SIHBeAg >93), which was selected for further evaluation as a novel HBV inhibitor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Primaquine is the drug of choice for the radical cure of Plasmodium vivax malaria, but possesses serious side effects. In this study novel primaquine analogues were designed and synthesized. Lower toxicity was achieved by reducing or eliminating the tendency of forming chemically reactive and toxic intermediates and metabolites. In vitro and in vivo studies found that synthesized compounds were less toxic than the parent compound primaquine, while preserving the desired antimalarial activity. Some of these compounds possess a therapeutic index over 10 times superior to that of the commonly used antimalarial drug chloroquine. These compounds, as well as the underlying design rationale, may find usefulness in the discovery and development of new antimalarial drugs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of 4-aryl-6-chloro-quinolin-2-ones and 5-aryl-7-chloro-1,4-benzodiazepine were synthesized and assayed for their in vitro anti-hepatitis B virus activities and cytotoxicities for the first time. Some of the tested compounds were active against HBsAg and HBeAg secretion in Hep G2.2.15 cells. Compound 5c showed IC50 of 0.074 and 0.449mM on HBsAg and HBeAg secretions, respectively, which were 10 times higher than that of its analog 4c and led to better selective index (SI) values (SI=23.2 and 3.4, respectively). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Febrifugine is an alkaloid isolated from Dichroa febrifuga Lour as the active component against Plasmodium falciparum. Strong liver toxicity has precluded febrifugine as a potential clinical drug. In this study novel febrifugine analogues were designed and synthesized. Lower toxicity was achieved by reducing or eliminating the tendency of forming chemically reactive and toxic intermediates and metabolites. Synthesized compounds were evaluated in vitro against chloroquine sensitive (D6) and chloroquine resistant (W2) P. falciparum strains for efficacy and in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes for potential cytotoxicity. The IC50’s of the best compounds were superior to their parent compound febrifugine. Noticeably, these compounds were also over 100 times less toxic than febrifugine. These compounds, as well as the underlying design rationale, may find usefulness in the discovery and development of new antimalarial drugs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We used the concept of bioisosteres to design and synthesize a novel series of dasatinib derivatives for the treatment of leukemia. Unfortunately, most of the dasatinib derivatives did not show appreciable inhibition against leukemia cell lines K562 and HL60. However, acrylamide compound 2c had comparable inhibitory activity with dasatinib against K562 cells (IC 50  = 0.039 nM vs. 0.069 nM). And amide compound 2a and acrylamide compound 2c also had comparable inhibitory activity with dasatinib against the leukemia cell line HL60 (IC 50  = 0.25 nM and 0.26 nM vs. 0.11 nM). Against the leukemia progenitor cell line KG1a, triazole compounds 15a and 15d – 15f and oxadiazole compounds 24a – 24d were more potent than dasatinib. In particular, the hydroxyl compounds 15a and 24a were about 64 and 180 fold more potent than dasatinib against KG1a cells (IC 50  = 0.14 μM and 0.05 μM vs. 8.98 μM). Compounds 15a and 24a also inhibited colony formation in MCF-7 cells and inhibited cell migration in the cell wound scratch assay in B16BL6 cells. Moreover, hydroxyl compounds 15a and 24a had low toxicity in vivo . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isothiocyanates 7a and 7b have poor stability and aqueous solubility. To address these problems, prodrugs 8a and 8b were synthesized. Prodrugs 8a and 8b were stable in HEPES buffer at pH 4.4, but released the active compounds 7a and 7b in HEPES buffer at pH 7.4 and in mouse plasma, respectively. Compound 8a and especially compound 8b showed anti-inflammatory effects. Compound 8b demonstrated significant efficacy in animal models of traumatic inflammation, acute inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis. Compound 8b also did not cause appreciable toxicity in mice after 5 weeks at a daily dose of 200 mg/kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel series of 1,2,3-triazole and 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives of imatinib were prepared and evaluated in vitro for their cytostatic effects against a human chronic myeloid leukemia (K562), acute myeloid leukemia (HL60), and human leukemia stem-like cell line (KG1a). The structure–activity relationship was analyzed by determining the inhibitory rate of each imatinib analog. Benzene and piperazine rings were necessary groups in these compounds for maintaining inhibitory activities against the K562 and HL60 cell lines. Introducing a trifluoromethyl group significantly enhanced the potency of the compounds against these two cell lines. Surprisingly, some compounds showed significant inhibitory activities against KG1a cells without inhibiting common leukemia cell lines (K562 and HL60). These findings suggest that these compounds are able to inhibit leukemia stem-like cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a refractory disease, and the majority of AML patients died from relapse and multidrug resistance. More and more studies demonstrate that AML stem cells play key role in multidrug resistance of AML. Here, we report a derivative of dehydrocostus lactone, that is, dispirocyclopropyldehydrocostus lactone (DDL), showed preferable cytotoxicity against a series of leukemia cell lines and AML stem cells from clinical samples of AML patient. Meanwhile, DDL demonstrated no significant toxicity to normal hematopoietic cells. Therefore, the prodrug of DDL, DMADDL, was evaluated for its in vivo anti-AML activity. The result revealed that DMADDL could inhibit the tumor growth in SCID mice tumorigenicity assay. Further study suggested that DDL induced apoptosis mainly through the up-regulation of apoptosis related protein Bax, followed by the cleavage of caspase-3, caspase-9, and PARP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Captopril is a New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) inhibitor with an IC50 value of 7.9μM. It is composed of two units: a 3-mercapto-2-methylpropanoyl fragment and a proline residue. In this study, we synthesized simple amide derivatives of 3-mercapto-2-methylpropanoic acid, and then tested them as NDM-1 inhibitors in order to identify the pharmacophore for NDM-1 inhibition. We found that the lead compound 22 had an IC50 value of 1.0μM. Further structure simplification provided compounds 31 and 32, which had IC50 values of 15 and 10μM, respectively. As compound 32 is a clinically used antidote for metal poisoning, it has great potential to be repurposed to treat bacterial infections. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of guaianolide-type sesquiterpene lactones derivatives with arylation of α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety was synthesized using Heck reactions, and was evaluated for their activities against acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cell line HL-60 and doxorubicin-resistant cell line HL-60/A. Although all compounds were significantly less active against HL-60 than the parent molecules, surprisingly, compounds 3a, 4c–4e, 5e, and 8d exhibited high potency against doxorubicin-resistant cell line HL-60/A (IC50 =6.2–19μM), and their activities against HL-60/A were comparable to that of their parent molecules. In view of their novel activities against HL-60/A, compound 5e with inhibitory activity against HL-60/A (IC50 =6.2±0.5μM) was selected for study its preliminary mechanism. The result reveals that compound 5e can obviously induce apoptosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of hemslecin A derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) activities, namely, inhibiting the secretion of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), and HBV DNA replication on HepG 2.2.15 cells. Most of the derivatives showed enhanced anti-HBV activities, of which compounds A1–A7, B5, C and E exhibited significant activities inhibiting HBV DNA replication with IC50 values of 2.8–11.6μM, comparable to that of the positive control, tenofovir. Compounds A1–A3, A5, B5, and C displayed low cytotoxicities, which resulted in high SI values of 89.7, 55.6, 77.8, >83.4, >55.8, and >150.5, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of 1-aryl-6,7-dihydroxyl(methoxy)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines (compounds 1–36) were synthesized via Pictet–Spengler cyclization. All the synthesized compounds were assayed for activities against HIV-1IIIB in C8166 cell cultures by MTT method for the first time. The results of the anti-HIV screening revealed that 6,7-dihydroxytetrahydroisoquinolines possessed higher selective index than 6,7-dimethoxyl analogs due to the significantly decreased cytotoxicities. Compounds 6, 24, and 36 showed potent anti-HIV activities with EC50 values of 8.2, 4.6, and 5.3μM respectively, and the cytotoxicities (CC50) of these three compounds were 784.3, 727.3, and 687.3μM, which resulted in SI values larger than 95, 159, and 130 respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two new alkaloids, hypserpanines A and B (1, 11), together with eleven known compounds, phenolbetain (2), acutumine (3), acutumidine (4), dechloroacutumine (5), dauricumine (6), dauricumidine (7), pronuciferine (8), glaziovine (9), S-reticuline (10), magnoflorine (12) and laurifoline(13), were isolated from Hypserpa nitida Miers. (Menispermaceae) and chemically elucidated through spectral analyses. All the isolated alkaloids were evaluated for their anti-HBV activities in vitro using the HBV transfected Hep G2.2.15 cell line. The most active compound, dauricumidine (7), exhibited an IC50 value of 0.450mM (SI=4.13) on hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) secretion of the Hep G2.2.15 cell line. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]