1. Academic Validation
  2. Synthesis and anticancer activity of novel 9,13-disubstituted berberine derivatives

Synthesis and anticancer activity of novel 9,13-disubstituted berberine derivatives

  • Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2020 Jan 15;30(2):126821. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2019.126821.
Zhi-Cheng Wang 1 Jing Wang 1 Huang Chen 2 Jie Tang 1 Ai-Wu Bian 2 Ting Liu 1 Li-Fang Yu 1 Zhengfang Yi 3 Fan Yang 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Molecular Therapeutics and New Drug Development & Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, SCME, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
  • 2 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
  • 3 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China. Electronic address: zfyi@bio.ecnu.edu.cn.
  • 4 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Molecular Therapeutics and New Drug Development & Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, SCME, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China. Electronic address: fyang@chem.ecnu.edu.cn.
Abstract

Novel berberine derivatives with disubstituents on positions C9 and C13 were synthesized and evaluated for antiproliferative activities against human prostate Cancer cell lines (PC3 and DU145), breast Cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) and human colon Cancer cell lines (HT29 and HCT116). All compounds showed significantly enhanced antiproliferative activities compared with berberine. Notably, compound 18e exhibited the strongest cytotoxicity against PC3 cells with an IC50 value of 0.19 μM, and the highest selectivity index (SIPC3 > 20). Further studies showed that 18e could arrest the cell cycle at G1 phase, and significantly inhibit tumor cell colony forming and migration even at low concentrations. Interestingly, 18e could significantly induce cytoplasmic vacuolation, suggesting a different mode of action from berberine.

Keywords

Anticancer activity; Berberine derivatives; Cell migration; Colony forming; Lipophilic group.

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