1000/1000
Hot
Most Recent
Glioma, particularly its most malignant form, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is the most common and aggressive malignant central nervous system tumor. The drawbacks of the current chemotherapy for GBM have aroused curiosity in the search for targeted therapies. Aberrantly overexpressed epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in GBM results in poor prognosis, low survival rates, poor responses to therapy and recurrence, and therefore EGFR-targeted therapy stands out as a promising approach for the treatment of gliomas. In this context, a series of pentacyclic triterpene analogues were subjected to in vitro and in silico assays, which were conducted to assess their potency as EGFR-targeted anti-glioma agents. In particular, compound 10 was the most potent anti-glioma agent with an IC50 value of 5.82 µM towards U251 human glioblastoma cells. Taking into account its low cytotoxicity to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), compound 10 exerts selective antitumor action towards Jurkat human leukemic T-cells. This compound also induced apoptosis and inhibited EGFR with an IC50 value of 9.43 µM compared to erlotinib (IC50 = 0.06 µM). Based on in vitro and in silico data, compound 10 stands out as a potential orally bioavailable EGFR-targeted anti-glioma agent endowed with the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB).
Gliomas, which consist of a group of heterogeneous brain tumors originating from three types of glial cells, namely astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and ependymal cells, account for almost 80% of primary malignant brain tumors in adults [1–6] [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. The incidence and mortality rate associated with gliomas are expected to increase dramatically in the upcoming years, particularly in developing countries[4] . According to the World Health Organization (WHO) grading, gliomas are categorized into four grades (I-IV) [5]. Among these four grades [6], glioblastoma multiforme (GBM; grade IV) is the most common, aggressive, and malignant form of glioma [7][8]. The main features of GBM are rapid proliferation with poor differentiation, diffuse infiltration into normal brain tissues, angiogenesis, tendency to necrosis, resistance to apoptosis, widespread genomic aberrations[8][9] , and these features make GBM challenging to treat[8][9][10][11] . Current treatment protocol involves surgical resection followed by concurrent radiotherapy and temozolomide (TMZ) for 6 weeks, then adjuvant TMZ for 6 months[1][8]. Despite tremendous efforts devoted to improving the therapeutic strategies towards GBM, the prognosis for patients with GBM still remains poor [3] and the median survival rates of these patients are very low [8,9]. The risk of recurrence is high since current therapies do not take into account the unique molecular features of different subtypes of glioma[4]
The efficacy of anti-glioma chemotherapy is limited because of poor drug delivery and inherent chemoresistance [3] or acquired chemoresistance (e.g., to TMZ) after initial treatment [12]. Due to unfavorable pharmacokinetics of chemotherapeutic drugs, poor drug delivery across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and blood–tumor barrier (BTB) prevents them from exerting their therapeutic action properly. The inherent chemoresistance of the brain endothelium and glioma cells, expressing the drug efflux protein p-glycoprotein also impairs the therapeutic efficacy[2][3]. Moreover, clinical applications are limited by adverse effects, such as bone marrow suppression, genotoxic, and teratogenic effects[10].
Compound | IC50 value (µM) | SI1 | ||||
U251 cells | T98G cells | U87 cells | Jurkat cells | PBMCs | ||
1 | 13.18 ± 3.19 | 20.54 ± 4.34 | 22.64 ± 6.75 | |||
2 | 24.00 ± 4.98 | >100 | >100 | |||
3 | >100 | >100 | >100 | |||
4 | 8.06 ± 2.04 | 9.86 ± 2.21 | 19.54 ± 4.52 | 9.97 ± 3.24 | 21.91 ± 5.13 | 2.20 |
5 | >100 | >100 | >100 | |||
6 | 16.68 ± 3.17 | 64.12 ± 7.36 | 79.70 ± 10.08 | |||
7 | 17.98 ± 2.23 | 61.11 ± 5.13 | 60.93 ± 8.87 | |||
8 | >100 | >100 | >100 | |||
9 | 14.13 ± 3.41 | 56.55 ± 6.08 | >100 | |||
10 | 5.82 ± 1.66 | 8.19 ± 2.42 | 17.04 ± 4.92 | 3.56 ± 1.45 | 28.12 ± 5.05 | 7.90 |
11 | >100 | >100 | >100 | |||
12 | >100 | >100 | >100 | |||
13 | 9.95 ± 2.04 | 20.19 ± 5.47 | 21.71 ± 6.09 | 12.08 ± 1.64 | 43.15 ± 8.32 | 3.57 |
Cisplatin | 7.70 ± 2.81 | 16.92 ± 3.95 | 20.90 ± 5.16 | 4.87 ± 2.00 | 34.67 ± 7.11 | 7.12 |
Compound | QPlogBB * (−3 to 1.2) |
CNS * (−2 to 2) |
QPlogPo/w * (−2 to 6.5) |
nHBD * (0 to 6) |
nHBA * (2 to 20) |
SASA * (300–1000) |
Rule of Five ** | Rule of Three *** |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | −0.595 | −1 | 5.877 | 3 | 7.1 | 743.017 | 2 | 1 |
2 | −0.388 | 0 | 8.081 | 1 | 3.7 | 813.580 | 2 | 1 |
3 | −0.529 | 0 | 7.171 | 1 | 5.7 | 827.146 | 2 | 1 |
4 | −0.574 | 0 | 6.781 | 2 | 5.4 | 756.322 | 2 | 1 |
5 | −0.120 | 0 | 7.783 | 1 | 3.7 | 746.935 | 2 | 1 |
6 | −0.105 | 0 | 7.829 | 1 | 3.7 | 741.337 | 2 | 1 |
7 | −0.569 | 0 | 6.968 | 0 | 4.7 | 811.227 | 2 | 1 |
8 | −0.035 | 0 | 8.795 | 0 | 4.7 | 799.503 | 2 | 1 |
9 | −1.175 | −2 | 6.275 | 0 | 6.2 | 780.099 | 2 | 1 |
10 | −0.061 | −1 | 5.744 | 3 | 5.2 | 863.864 | 2 | 1 |
11 | −0.038 | −1 | 5.453 | 3 | 5.2 | 848.674 | 2 | 1 |
12 | −0.029 | −1 | 5.745 | 3 | 5.2 | 863.850 | 2 | 1 |
13 | −1.057 | −2 | 6.866 | 4 | 7.2 | 890.067 | 2 | 1 |
* QPlogBB: Brain/blood partition coefficient, CNS: Predicted central nervous system activity. QPlogPo/w: Predicted octanol/water partition coefficient. nHBD and nHBA: Estimated number of hydrogen bonds that would be donated and accepted, respectively, by the solute to water molecules in an aqueous solution. Values are averages taken over a number of configurations, so they can be non-integer. SASA: Total solvent accessible surface area in square angstroms using a probe with a 1.4 Å radius. ** Rule of Five: Number of violations of Lipinski’s rule of five. *** Rule of Three: Number of violations of Jorgensen’s rule of three.