Novel 3(2H)-pyridazinone derivatives were designed, synthesised in satisfactory yields and evaluated in different experimental assays to assess their preliminary toxicity in vivo and anti-proliferative effects against HCT116 cell lines in vitro. Artemia salina lethality test provided LC50 values >100 µg/mL for all compounds. Successive assays revealed that some compounds were endowed with a promising anti-proliferative effect against HCT116 cells, alone or stimulated by serotonin as a pro-inflammatory factor in order to mimick an inflamed model in vivo of cancer cell microenvironment. Moreover, the kinurenic acid level after treatment with these newly synthesised compounds was monitored as a marker of anti-proliferation in colon carcinoma models. The IC50 values obtained for the best-in-class compounds were comparable to that of daunorubicin as a reference drug. Conversely, these compounds were not able to counteract the spontaneous migration of human cancer HCT116 cell line in the wound healing paradigm.
Keywords: Artemia salina lethality test; HCT116; Serotonin; anti-proliferative agents; kynurenic acid; pyridazinone; wound healing.