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Herein, we evaluated the anti-cancer effect and molecular mechanisms of a novel betulinic acid (BA) derivative, SYK023, by using two mouse models of lung cancer driven by KrasG12D or EGFRL858R. We found that SYK023 inhibits lung tumor proliferation, without side effects in vivo or cytotoxicity in primary lung cells in vitro. SYK023 triggered endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Blockage of ER stress in SYK023-treated cells inhibited SYK023-induced apoptosis. In addition, we found that the expression of cell cycle-related genes, including cyclin A2, B1, D3, CDC25a, and CDC25b decreased but, while those of p15INK4b, p16INK4a, and p21CIP1 increased following SYK023 treatment. Finally, low doses of SYK023 significantly decreased lung cancer metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Expression of several genes related to cell migration, including synaptopodin, were downregulated by SYK023, thereby impairing F-actin polymerization and metastasis. Therefore, SYK023 may be a potentially therapeutic treatment for metastatic lung cancer.

Podophyllotoxin (PPT), as well as its congeners and derivatives, exhibits pronounced biological activities, especially antineoplastic effects. Its strong inhibitory effect on tumor cell growth led to the development of three of the most highly prescribed anticancer drugs in the world, etoposide, teniposide, and the water-soluble prodrug etoposide phosphate. Their clinical success as well as intriguing mechanism of action stimulated great interest in further modification of PPT for better antitumor activity. The C-4 position has been a major target for structural derivatization aimed at either producing more potent compounds or overcoming drug resistance. Accordingly, numerous PPT derivatives have been prepared via hemisynthesis and important structure–activity relationship (SAR) correlations have been identified. Several resulting compounds, including GL-331, TOP-53, and NK611, reached clinical trials. Some excellent reviews on the distribution, sources, applications, synthesis, and SAR of PPT have been published. This review focuses on a second generation of new etoposide-related drugs and provides detailed coverage of the current status and recent development of C-4-modified PPT analogs as anticancer clinical trial candidates.

Camptothecins (CPTs) are cytotoxic natural alkaloids that specifically target DNA topoisomerase I. Research on CPTs has undergone a significant evolution from the initial discovery of CPT in the late 1960s through the study of synthetic small molecule derivatives to investigation of macromolecular constructs and formulations. Over the past years, intensive medicinal chemistry efforts have generated numerous CPT derivatives. Three derivatives, topotecan, irinotecan, and belotecan, are currently prescribed as anticancer drugs, and several related compounds are now in clinical trials. Interest in other biological effects, besides anticancer activity, of CPTs is also growing exponentially, as indicated by the large number of publications on the subject during the last decades. Therefore, the main focus of the present review is to provide an ample but condensed overview on various biological activities of CPT derivatives, in addition to continued up-to-date coverage of anticancer effects.

Ten new 3,4-seco betulinic acid (BA) derivatives were designed and synthesized. Among them, compounds 7–15 exhibited enhanced chemopreventive ability in an in vitro short-term 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) induced Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) activation assay in Raji cells. Specifically, analogs with a free C-28 carboxylic acid, including 7, 8, 11, and 13, inhibited EBV-EA activation significantly. The most potent compound 8 displayed 100% inhibition at 1 × 103 mol ratio/TPA and 73. 4%, 35. 9%, and 8. 4% inhibition at 5 × 102, 1 × 102, and 1 × 10 mol ratio/TPA, respectively, comparable with curcumin at high concentration and better than curcumin at low concentration. The potent chemopreventive activity of novel seco A-ring BAs (8 and 11) was further confirmed in an in vivo mouse skin carcinogenesis assay.

Nineteen new halogenated diarylpyridinamine (DAPA) analogues (6a-n and 8a-e) modified on the phenoxy C-ring were synthesized and evaluated for anti-HIV activity and certain drug-like properties. Ten compounds showed high anti-HIV activity (EC50 < 10 nM). Particularly, (E)-6-(2”-bromo-4”-cyanovinyl-6“-methoxy)phenoxy-N2-(4′-cyanophenyl)pyridin-2,3-diamine (8c) displayed low nanomolar antiviral potency (3–7 nM) against wild-type and resistant viral strains with E138K or K101E mutation, associated with resistance to rilvipirine (1b). Compound 8c exhibited much lower resistance fold changes (RFC 1.1–2.1) than 1b (RFC 11.8–13.0). Compound 8c also exhibited better metabolic stability (in vitro half-life) than 1b in human liver microsomes (HLM), possessed low lipophilicity (clog D: 3.29; measured log P: 3.31), and had desirable lipophilic efficiency indices (LE > 0.3, LLE >5, LELP

The current optimization of 2,4-diarylaniline analogs (DAANs) on the central phenyl ring provided a series of new active DAAN derivatives 9a–9e, indicating an accessible modification approach that could improve anti-HIV potency against wild-type and resistant strains, aqueous solubility, and metabolic stability. A new compound 9e not only exhibited extremely high potency against wild-type virus (EC50 0.53 nM) and several resistant viral strains (EC50 0.36 – 3.9 nM), but also showed desirable aqueous solubility and metabolic stability, which were comparable or better than those of the anti-HIV-1 drug TMC278 (2). Thus, new compound 9e might be a potential drug candidate for further development of novel next-generation NNRTIs.

Betulinic acid derivatives modified at the C28 position are HIV-1entry inhibitors such as compound A43D; however, modified at the C3 position instead of C28 give HIV-1 maturation inhibitor such as bevirimat. Bevirimat exhibited promising pharmacokinetic profiles in clinical trials, but its effectiveness was compromised by the high baseline drug resistance of HIV-1 variants with polymorphism in the putative drug binding site. In an effort to determine whether the viruses with bevirimat resistant polymorphism also altered their sensitivities to the betulinic acid derivatives that inhibit HIV-1 entry, a series of new betulinic acid entry inhibitors were synthesized and tested for their activities against HIV-1 NL4-3 and NL4-3 variants resistant to bevirimat. The results show that the bevirimat resistant viruses were approximately 5- to10-fold more sensitive to three new glutamine ester derivatives (13, 15 and 38) and A43D in an HIV-1 multi-cycle replication assay. In contrast, the wild type NL4-3 and the bevirimat resistant variants were equally sensitive to the HIV-1 RT inhibitor AZT. In addition, these three new compounds markedly improved microsomal stability compared to A43D.

Accumulation of aberrant protein aggregates, such as amyloid β peptide (Aβ), due to decreased proteasome activities, might contribute to the neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease. In this study, lithocholic acid derivatives 3α-O-pimeloyl-lithocholic acid methyl ester (2) and its isosteric isomer (6) were found to activate the chymotrypsin-like activity of the proteasome at an EC50 of 7.8 and 4.3 μM, respectively. Replacing the C24 methyl ester in 2 with methylamide resulted in a complete devoid of proteasome activating activity. Epimerizing the C3 substituent from an α to β orientation transformed the activator into a proteasome inhibitor. Unlike the cellular proteasome activator PA28, proteasome activated by 2 was not inhibited by Aβ. Furthermore, 2 potently antagonized the inhibitory effect of Aβ on the proteasome. In summary, compound 2 represents a novel class of small molecules that not only activates the proteasome but also antagonizes the inhibitory effect of Aβ on the proteasome.

In a continuing study of bevirimat (2), the anti-HIV-maturation clinical trials agent, 28 new betulinic acid (BA, 1) derivatives were designed and synthesized. Among these compounds, 17, with a C-28 MEM ester moiety, and 22, with a C-28 ethyl hexanoate, increased the anti-HIV replication activity compared with 2 by two-fold, while compounds 40–41 and 48–49, with C-28 piperazine or piperidine amide substitutions, increased the activity by three- to fifteen-fold. The best new compound 41 exhibited an anti-HIV IC50 value of 0.0059 μM, compared with 0.087 μM for 2. All of the active compounds showed only anti-maturation effects, as confirmed by TZM-bl assay, in blocking the HIV replication. The results suggest that proper C-28 substitutions can further enhance the anti-maturation activity of 2, without any anti-entry effects. Thus, 41 may serve as a promising new lead for development of anti-AIDS clinical trial candidates.

A series of novel bichalcone analogs were synthesized and evaluated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated microglial cells as inhibitors of nitric oxide (NO) and for in vitro anticancer activity using a limited panel of four human cancer cell lines. All analogs inhibited NO production. Compounds 4 and 11 exhibited optimal activity with IC50 values of 0.3 and 0.5 µM, respectively, and were at least 38-fold better than the positive control. A mechanism of action study showed that both compounds significantly blocked the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 and up-regulation of iNOS at 1.0 µM. Compound 4 and three other analogs (3, 20, and 23) exerted significant in vitro anticancer activity GI50 values ranging from 0.70~13.10 µM. A mode of action study using HT-29 colon cancer cells showed that 23 acts by inducing apoptosis signaling.

We prepared 1-(4′-azido-2′-deoxy-2′-fluoro-β -D-arabinofuranosyl)cytosine (10) and its hydrochloride salt (11) as potential antiviral agents based on the favorable antiviral profiles of 4′-substituted nucleosides. Compounds 10 and 11 were synthesized from 1,3,5-O-tribenzoyl-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-arabinofuranoside in multiple steps, and their structures were unequivocally established by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and 19F NMR spectroscopy, HRMS, and X-ray crystallography. Compounds 10 and 11 exhibited potent anti-HIV-1 activity (EC50: 0.3 and 0.13 nM, respectively) without significant cytotoxicity in concentrations up to 100 μM. Compound 11 exhibited extremely potent anti-HIV activity against NL4-3 (wild-type), NL4-3 (K101E), and RTMDR viral strains, with EC50 values of 0.086, 0.15, and 0.11 nM, respectively. Due to the high potency of 11, it was also screened against an NIH Reagent Program NRTI-resistant virus panel containing eleven mutated viral strains and for cytotoxicity against six different human cell lines. The results of this screening indicated that 11 is a novel NRTI that could be developed as an anti-AIDS clinical trial candidate to overcome drug-resistance issues.

Three novel 1-alkyldaphnane-type diterpenes, stelleralides A-C (4-6), and five known compounds were isolated from the roots of Stellera chamaejasme L. The structures of 4-6 were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses. Several isolated compounds showed potent anti-HIV activity. Compound 4 showed extremely potent anti-HIV activity (EC(90) 0.40 nM) with the lowest cytotoxicity (IC(50) 4.3 μM) and appears to be a promising compound for development into anti-AIDS clinical trial candidates.

Six 3′R,4′R-di-O-(S)-camphanoyl-2′,2′-dimethyldihydropyrano[2,3-f]chromone (DCP) and two 3′R,4′R-di-O-(S)-camphanoyl-(+)-cis-khellactone (DCK) derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for inhibition of HIV-1NL4-3 replication in TZM-bl cells. 2-Ethyl-2′-monomethyl-1′-oxa- and -1′-thia-DCP (5a, 6a), as well as 2-ethyl-1′-thia-DCP (7a) exhibited potent anti-HIV activity with EC50 values of 30, 38 and 54 nM and therapeutic indexes of 152.6, 48.0 and 100.0, respectively, which were better than or comparable to those of the lead compound 2-ethyl-DCP in the same assay. 4-Methyl-1′-thia-DCK (8a) also showed significant inhibitory activity with an EC50 of 128 nM and TI of 237.9.

In this study, 22 new betulinic acid (BA) derivatives were synthesized and tested for their inhibition of the chymotrypsin-like activity of 20S proteasome. From the SAR study, we concluded that the C-3 and C-30 positions are the pharmacophores for increasing the proteasome inhibition effects, and larger lipophilic or aromatic side chains are favored at these positions. Among the BA derivatives tested, compounds 13, 20, and 21 showed the best proteasome inhibition activity with IC50 values of 1.42, 1.56, and 1.80 µM, respectively, which are three- to four-fold more potent than the proteasome inhibition controls LLM-F and lactacystin.

Epiceanothic acid (1) is a naturally occurring, but very rare pentacyclic triterpene with a unique pentacyclic triterpene (PT) structure. An efficient synthesis of 1 starting from betulin (3) has been accomplished in 12 steps with a total yield of 10% in our study. Compound 1 and selected synthetic intermediates were further evaluated as anti-HIV-1 agents, inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase (GP), and cytotoxic agents. Compound 1 exhibited moderate HIV-1 inhibition. Most importantly, compound 5, with an opened A-ring, showed significant GP inhibitory activity with an IC50 of 0.21 μM, suggesting a potential for development as an anti-diabetic agent. On the other hand, compound 12, with a closed A-ring, showed potent cytotoxicity against A549 and MCF-7 human tumor cell lines, with IC50 values of 0.89 and 0.33 μM, respectively. These results suggest that the A-ring of PTs is an important pharmacophore that could be modified to involve different biological activities.

As part of our continuing investigation of azo-flavonoid derivatives as potential anticancer drug candidates, a series of 2-aryl-6,7-methylenedioxyquinolin-4-one analogs was designed and synthesized. The design combined structural features of 2-(2-fluorophenyl)-6,7-methylenedioxyquinolin-4-one (CHM-1), a previously discovered compound with potent in vivo antitumor activity, and 2-arylquinolin-4-ones identified by CoMFA models. The newly synthesized analogs were evaluated for cytotoxicity against seven human cancer cell lines, and structure-activity relationship (SAR) correlations were established. Analogs 1, 37, and 39 showed potent cytotoxicity against different cancer cell lines. Compound 1 demonstrated selective cytotoxicity against Hep 3B (hepatoma) cells. Compound 37 was cytotoxic against HL-60 (leukemia), HCT-116 (colon cancer), Hep 3B (hepatoma), and SK-MEL-5 (melanoma) cells. Compound 39 exhibited broad cytotoxicity against all seven cancer cell lines, with IC50 values between 0.07–0.19 µM. Results from mechanism of action studies revealed that these new quinolone derivatives function as antitubulin agents.