p53-MDM2/MDMX interaction inhibitors represent the prospective agents for targeted anticancer therapy in tumors expressing wild-type p53 protein. Imidazoline-based MDM2-targeted inhibitors of such type, nutlins, contain halogensubstituted phenyl rings, which dramatically decrease the solubility of compounds in water. The addition of suitable hydrophilic substituents in benzene rings and to imidazoline nitrogen can improve the compound's water solubility. In this study, we have synthesized novel hydrophilic cis-2,4,5-tris(alkoxyphenyl)imidazolines and studied the influence of N-sulfonyl substituent on protein-protein interaction compared to unsubstituted alkoxy-compounds. The biological activity of the obtained compounds was studied using Western blot analysis on A549, RKO and SH-SY5Y cancer cell lines. It was found that the derivatives are able to inhibit MDM2/MDMX-p53 interaction, promote p53 stabilization and induce p21 expression in the concentrations from 500 nM.
The use of p53-MDM2 inhibitors is a prospective strategy in anti-cancer therapy for tumors expressing wild type p53 protein. In this study, we have applied a simple approach of two-step synthesis of imidazoline-based alkoxyaryl compounds, which are able to efficiently inhibit p53-MDM2 protein–protein interactions, promote accumulation of p53 and p53-inducible proteins in various cancer cell lines. Compounds 2l and 2k cause significant upregulation of p53 and p53-inducible proteins in five human cancer cell lines, one of which possesses overexpression of MDM2.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.