Novel N-(4-thiocyanatophenyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamides exhibit selective cytotoxic activity at nanomolar doses towards human leukemic T-cells

Abstract

The N-(4-thiocyanatophenyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamides were synthesized via the condensation of variety of 1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxylic acids and 4-thiocyanatoaniline using CDI as amide coupling reagents. According to computer-aided calculations, all synthesized compounds are expected to have acceptable ADME profile for drug design. The antiproliferative potency of derivatives was evaluated towards different cell lines. The specific activity of four N-(4-thiocyanatophenyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamides (4a, 4b, 4c, 4f) was comparable to doxorubicin (GI₅₀ = 0.65 μM) at nanomolar level against Jurkat cells in the range of GI₅₀ 0.63-0.69 μM. According to the results of toxicity studies of the compounds for HEK293, HaCaT, Balb/c 3T3 cells, compound 4a was selected for further studies as a biocompatible agent with promising anticancer activity in the NCI60 cell lines. A remarkable antiproliferative activity of compound 4a towards leukemia cell lines (SR, MOLT-4; CCRF-CEM; HL-60(TB); K-562; RPMI-8226) was observed and high cytotoxicity towards the CAKI-1 (kidney cancer), LOX IMVI (melanoma) and UO-31 (renal cancer) cells lines was detected. Compound 4a inhibits LOX IMVI cells growth at a GI₅₀ value of 0.15 μM. COMPARE analysis to indicate potential mechanisms of action of novel compound, as well as in silico SwissTargetPrediction and SwissSimilarity were performed. Compound 4a induced morphological changes (apoptotic bodies, membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation), and DNA fragmentation in Jurkat T-cells. It reduced mitochondrial membrane potential and induced DNA damage in Jurkat cells without binding and/or intercalation to DNA molecule.

Keywords: 1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxamides; ADME calculations; Anti-proliferative; COMPARE analysis; Cancer; Comet analysis; Cytotoxicity; DNA damage; DNA intercalation; X-ray.