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Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel quinoline-based EGFR/HER-2 dual-target inhibitors as potential antitumor agents

Research Authors
Lamya H. Al-Wahaibi, Essmat M. El-Sheref, Hendawy N. Tawfeek, Hesham A. Abou-Zied, Safwat M. Rabea, Stefan Bräse, Bahaa G. M. Youssif.
Research File
Research Journal
RSC advances
Research Publisher
rsc
Research Rank
Medicinal Chemistry, Q2
Research Vol
14
Research Year
2024
Research Abstract

Dual targeting of EGFR and HER2 is a valid anti-cancer approach for treating solid tumors. We designed and synthesized a new series of EGFR/HER-2 dual-target inhibitors based on quinoline derivatives. The structure of the newly synthesized compounds was verified using 1 H NMR, 13C NMR, and elemental analysis. The targeted compounds were tested for antiproliferative efficacy against four cancer cell lines. All the compounds had GI50s ranging from 25 to 82 nM, with breast (MCF-7) and lung (A-549) cancer cell lines being the most sensitive. Compound 5a demonstrated the most significant antiproliferative action. With inhibitory (IC50) values of 71 and 31 nM, respectively, compound 5a proved to be the most effective dual-target inhibitor of EGFR and HER-2, outperforming the reference erlotinib (IC50 = 80 nM) as an EGFR inhibitor but falling short of the clinically used agent lapatinib (IC50 = 26 nM) as a HER2 inhibitor. The apoptotic potential activity of 5a was examined, and the findings demonstrated that 5a promotes apoptosis by activating caspase-3, 8, and Bax while simultaneously reducing the expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. The docking studies provided valuable insights into the binding interactions of compounds 3e and 5a with EGFR, effectively rationalizing the observed SAR trends