Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation: 5-amino-1H-pyrazole-1- carbonyl derivatives as FGFR Inhibitors

Abstract

Background: Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their high affinity receptors (FGFRs) play a major role in cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, and apoptosis. Aberrant FGFR signaling pathway might accelerate development in a broad panel of malignant solid tumors. However, the full application of most existing small molecule FGFR inhibitors has become a challenge due to the potential target mutation. Hence, it has attracted a great deal of attention from both academic and industrial fields for hunting for novel FGFR inhibitors with potent inhibitory activities and high selectivity. Objective: Novel 5-amino-1H-pyrazole-1-carbonyl derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated as FGFR inhibitors. Methods: A series of 5-amino-1H-pyrazole-1-carbonyl derivatives were established by a condensation of the suitable formyl acetonitrile derivatives with either hydrazine or hydrazide derivatives in the presence of anhydrous ethanol or toluene. The inhibitory activities of the target compounds were screened against the FGFRs and two representative cancer cell lines. Tests were carried out to observe the inhibition of 8e against FGFR phosphorylation and downstream signal phosphorylation in human gastric cancer cell lines (SNU-16). The molecular docking of all the compounds were performed using Molecular Operating Environment in order to evaluate their binding abilities with the corresponding protein kinase. Results: A series of 5-amino-1H-pyrazole-1-carbonyl derivatives have been designed and synthesized, screened for their inhibitory activities against FGFRs and cancer cell lines. Most of the target compounds showed moderate to good anti-proliferate activities against the tested enzymes and cell lines. The most promising compounds 8e suppressed FGFR1-3 with IC50 values of 56.4, 35.2, 95.5 nM, and potently inhibited the SNU-16 and MCF-7 cancer cells with IC50 values of 0.71 1.26 μM, respectively. And 8e inhibited the growth of cancer cells containing FGFR activated by multiple mechanisms. In addition, the binding interactions were quite similar in the molecular models between generated compounds and Debio-1347 with the FGFR1. Conclusion: According to the experimental findings, 5-amino-1H-pyrazole-1-carbonyl might serve as a promising template of an FGFR inhibitor.