7-Chloroquinolinehydrazones as First-in-Class Anticancer Experimental Drugs in the NCI-60 Screen among Different Investigated Series of Aryl, Quinoline, Pyridine, Benzothiazole and Imidazolehydrazones

In the context of a continuously increasing global cancer risk, the search for new effective and affordable anticancer drugs remains a constant demand. This study describes chemical experimental drugs able to destroy cancer cells by arresting their growth. New hydrazones with quinoline, pyridine, benzothiazole and imidazole moieties have been synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxic potential against 60 cancer cell lines. 7-Chloroquinolinehydrazones were the most active in the current study and exhibited good cytotoxic activity with submicromolar GI₅₀ values on a large panel of cell lines from nine tumor types (leukemia, non-small cell lung cancer, colon cancer, CNS cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, renal cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer). This study provided consistent structure-activity relationships in this series of experimental antitumor compounds.