S-Alkylated quinazolin-4(3H)-ones as dual EGFR/VEGFR-2 kinases inhibitors: design, synthesis, anticancer evaluation and docking study

Abstract

Dual targeting by a single molecule has emerged as a promising strategy for fighting cancer. In this study, a new set of 2-thioquinazolin-4(3H)-ones as potential anti-cancer surrogates endowed with dual EGFR/VEGFR-2 kinases inhibitory activities were synthesized. The anti-tumor potency of the newly synthesized candidates 4–27 was evaluated against a panel of four cancer cell lines. The prepared candidates 4–27 showed comparable activity to that of the standard drug sorafenib. For instance, compound 4 (IC₅₀ = 1.50–5.86 μM) and compound 20 (IC₅₀ = 4.42–6.39 μM) displayed superior potencies against all cell lines compared to sorafenib (IC₅₀ = 5.47–7.26 μM). Dual EGFR/VEGFR-2 inhibitory activities of the most active analogues (4, 11, and 20) were investigated. Compound 4 showed comparable EGFR/VEGFR-2 inhibitory activity to the used control drugs. Flow cytometric analysis indicates that the most potent analogue 4 stopped the cell cycle at the G1 phase and induced 46.53% total apoptosis in HCT-116 cells that was much more powerful than the untreated cells with 2.15% apoptosis. Molecular docking and dynamic simulations of 4, 11, and 20 with EGFR and VEGFR-2 were performed to examine the binding mode and interaction within the enzyme binding pockets.