Biological screening of cucurbitacin inspired estrone analogs targeting mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway

Assembly of cucurbitacin inspired estrone analogs has been previously synthesized and screened against melanoma cell lines. Further synthetic optimization was executed via installation of Azide polar functional moiety across 23, 24 α, β-unsaturated ketone side chain using Michael addition reaction. This was followed by biological screening against melanoma cell lines employing MTT assay, in-cell-based ELISA assay, and Western blot analysis to monitor the potential of the synthesized analogs to inhibit the phosphorylated ERK levels. This resulted in evolution of MH-4 possessing IC50 of 3.59 μm with significant decrease in the p-ERK and targeting MAPK pathway.