Discovery of Novel c-Mesenchymal-Epithelia Transition Factor and Histone Deacetylase Dual Inhibitors

Abstract Clinically, a single agent that simultaneously inhibits multiple targets has been widely used in cancer treatment to overcome complicated dose design and anti-cancer resistance. Inspired by the synergistic effects between c-Met and HDAC in tumor development, a novel series of c-Met/HDAC bifunctional inhibitors was designed and synthesized by merging the pharmacophores of HDAC inhibitor into a c-Met inhibitor. All the target compounds were evaluated for their biological activity, the most potent compound, 14x, exhibited strong inhibition against HDAC1 with an IC50 of 18.49 nM and remarkable inhibitory activity against c-Met with an IC50 of 5.40 nM, respectively. In addition, 14x efficiently inhibited the proliferation of HCT-116, MCF-7 and A549 cell lines with IC50 values of 0.22 μM, 1.59 μM and 0.22 μM, respectively, which were superior to the reference compounds Cabozantinib and SAHA. Futhermore, 14x induced apoptosis and cause cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. Docking experiments on c-Met and HDAC enzymes revealed the key interactions between 14x with the target protein. These results indicated that 14x was a potent dual c-Met/HDAC inhibitor and deserved for further investigation.