Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel hydroxamic acids bearing coumarin moieties as histone deacetylase inhibitors and cytotoxic agents
摘要
In this study, we successfully designed and synthesized a new series of coumarin-based hydroxamate derivatives as potent histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. Among them, several compounds showed strong inhibitory effects on whole-cell HDAC and exhibited moderate to significant antiproliferative activity against three human cancer cell lines, including MCF-7, A549 and SK-Lu-1. Notably, compounds 4c and 4 d emerged as the most promising candidates. They inhibited HDAC with an IC50 of 0.16 and 0.33 µM respectively, outperforming suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) (IC50 = 0.63 µM) and demonstrated potent cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cancer cell line – from 1.2 to 6.8 times stronger than SAHA. Docking simulations further clarified their interactions with HDAC isoforms and explained its binding profile. Taken together, these findings highlight compound 4c and 4 d as highly promising HDAC inhibitors with significant therapeutic potential in cancer treatment.