Cancer diseases remains one of the most significant public health challenges due to its complex nature, which hinders the development of effective therapeutic and diagnostic strategies. Novel anticancer drugs aim to target multiple processes involved in carcinogenesis. One promising approach is the inhibition of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), which regulates the functionality of hundreds of oncogenic proteins and thereby influences disease progression. However, first-generation N-terminal inhibitors failed due to toxicity and induction of the heat shock response. Consequently, research has shifted toward the less-explored C-terminal domain. Since no effective C-terminal inhibitors are currently available on the market, our aim was to develop novel compounds targeting this site.
We designed and synthesized four libraries of compounds A, B, C, and D, guided by structure–activity relationship (SAR) insights from known C-terminal inhibitors, even though detailed binding information for the C-terminal domain remains unavailable. Our work focused on expanding the SAR of novel inhibitors built around a 3-(pyrrolidine-1-yl)pyridine scaffold. TAK-27, previously synthesized at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, served as the starting point for optimization. Structural modifications were introduced at multiple positions, resulting in the successful synthesis of 15 final compounds. Their anticancer activity was evaluated using the MTS assay on the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.
Our results demonstrate that both the presence and position of nitrogen atoms within the central aromatic ring significantly affect activity, with the ortho position relative to the amide substituent proving most favorable. Optimization of the distance between the amide group and the basic center identified β-alanine (two carbon atoms) as the optimal linker. The stereochemistry of the pyrrolidine center influenced activity in relation to substituents at the basic center, while a benzene ring emerged as the most effective scaffold. In library D, we investigated the role of halogen bonding compared with hydrophobic and π-interactions. Substituting a 3,4-dichlorophenyl group with a naphthyl moiety yielded the most active analogue in our series, compound 29, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 1.97 ± 0.15 μM in MCF-7 cells. Nevertheless, TAK-27 remains the most potent pyrrolidine-based C-terminal Hsp90 inhibitor identified to date and represents a strong lead for further optimization.
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