A series of novel benzohydrazide derivatives containing dihydropyrazoles have been synthesized as potential epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase inhibitors and their biological activities as potential antiproliferative agents have been evaluated. Among these compounds, compound H20 exhibited the most potent antiproliferative activity against four cancer cell line variants (A549, MCF-7, HeLa, HepG2) with IC 50 values of 0.46, 0.29, 0.15 and 0.21 µM respectively, which showed the most potent EGFR inhibition activities (IC 50 = 0.08 µM for EGFR). Molecular modeling simulation studies were performed in order to predict the biological activity and activity relationship (SAR) of these benzohydrazide derivatives. These results suggested that compound H20 may be a promising anticancer agent.

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) has been proven to play a major role in the regulation of tumor angiogenesis. A series of novel glycyrrhetic acid derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their VEGFR2 inhibitory activity as well as their antiproliferative properties against four cancer cell lines (MCF-7, HeLa, HepG2, and A549). In vitro biological evaluations against these human tumor cell lines indicate that most of the prepared compounds have antiproliferative activities; compound 3 a (3β-hydroxy-30-(4-phenyl-1-piperazinyl)olean-12-ene-11,30-dione) exhibited the best inhibitory activity against MCF-7 cells, with an IC value of 1.08 μm. Compound 3 a also showed the most potent inhibitory activity against VEGFR2 tyrosine kinase, with an IC value of 0.35 μm. Docking simulations were performed with the aim of discovering the binding mode of compound 3 a, and the results indicate that 3 a could bind at the VEGFR2 active site.