Monotargeting anticancer agents suffer from resistance and target nonspecificity concerns, which can be tackled with a multitargeting approach. The combined treatment with HDAC inhibitors and PPARγ agonists has displayed potential antitumor effects. Based on these observations, this work involves design and synthesis of molecules that can simultaneously target PPARγ and HDAC. Several out of 25 compounds inhibited HDAC4, and six compounds acted as dual-targeting agents. Compound 7i was the most potent, with activity toward PPARγ EC 50 = 0.245 μM and HDAC4 IC 50 = 1.1 μM. Additionally, compounds 7c and 7i were cytotoxic to CCRF-CEM cells (CC 50 = 2.8 and 9.6 μM, respectively), induced apoptosis, and caused DNA fragmentation. Furthermore, compound 7c modulated the expression of c-Myc, cleaved caspase-3, and caused in vivo tumor regression in CCRF-CEM tumor xenografts. Thus, this study provides a basis for the rational design of dual/multitargeting agents that could be developed further as anticancer therapeutics.
Epigenetics plays a fundamental role in cancer progression, and developing agents that regulate epigenetics is crucial for cancer management. Among Class I and Class II HDACs, HDAC8 is one of the essential epigenetic players in cancer progression. Therefore, we designed, synthesized, purified, and structurally characterized novel compounds containing N-substituted TZD (P1-P25). Cell viability assay of all compounds on leukemic cell lines (CEM, K-562, and KCL22) showed the cytotoxic potential of P8, P9, P10, P12, P19, and P25. In-vitro screening of different HDACs isoforms revealed that P19 was the most potent and selective inhibitor for HDAC8 (IC 50-9.3 μM). Thermal shift analysis (TSA) confirmed the binding of P19 to HDAC8. In-vitro screening of all compounds on the transport activity of GLUT1, GLUT4, and GLUT5 indicated that P19 inhibited GLUT1 (IC 50-28.2 μM). P10 and P19 induced apoptotic cell death in CEM cells (55.19% and 60.97% respectively) and P19 was less cytotoxic on normal WBCs (CC 50-104.2 μM) and human fibroblasts (HS27) (CC 50-105.0 μM). Thus, among this novel series of TZD *
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