Synthesis of 17β-N-arylcarbamoylandrost-4-en-3-one derivatives and their anti-proliferative effect on human androgen-sensitive LNCaP cell line

Abstract

In this study, we report the synthesis and anti-proliferative effect of a set of eight androst-4-ene-3-one derivatives with different arylcarbamoyl groups at C-17. The novel compounds were prepared from commercially available 3β-hydroxy-5-pregnen-20-one and evaluated against the androgen-sensitive human prostate adenocarcinoma LNCaP cell line. The cancerous cells were exposed to 50 μM of each compound and the proliferating agent testosterone (T) or dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The most potent compounds from this assay were further tested against the androgen-insensitive PC3 cell line. We also demonstrate the activity of these compounds on rat peripheral blood mononuclear cells for comparison. Both 17β-N-[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenylcarbamoyl]androst-4-ene-3-one (6f) and 17β-N-(1,3-thiazol-2-ylcarbamoyl)androst-4-ene-3-one (6g) exhibited a higher growth inhibitory effect than commercially available drugs finasteride, flutamide and ketoconazole on LNCaP cells in the presence and absence of androgens. In addition, 6f and 6g demonstrated high potency on PC3 cells suggesting an androgen-independent anti-proliferative effect. Moreover, the novel compounds showed a small effect on rat mononuclear cells, an indication of low toxicity.

Keywords: Androst-4-en-3-one derivatives; LNCaP cells; PC3 cells; Prostate cancer; Rat peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC); Sulforhodamine B assay.