Anticancer derivative of the natural alkaloid, theobromine, inhibiting EGFR protein: Computer-aided drug discovery approach

PLOS ONE
2023.0

Abstract

A new semisynthetic derivative of the natural alkaloid, theobromine, has been designed as a lead antiangiogenic compound targeting the EGFR protein. The designed compound is an (m-tolyl)acetamide theobromine derivative, (T-1-MTA). Molecular Docking studies have shown a great potential for T-1-MTA to bind to EGFR. MD studies (100 ns) verified the proposed binding. By MM-GBSA analysis, the exact binding with optimal energy of T-1-MTA was also identified. Then, DFT calculations were performed to identify the stability, reactivity, electrostatic potential, and total electron density of T-1-MTA. Furthermore, ADMET analysis indicated the T-1-MTA’s general likeness and safety. Accordingly, T-1-MTA has been synthesized to be examined in vitro. Intriguingly, T-1-MTA inhibited the EGFR protein with an IC50 value of 22.89 nM and demonstrated cytotoxic activities against the two cancer cell lines, A549, and HCT-116, with IC50 values of 22.49, and 24.97 μM, respectively. Interestingly, T-1-MTA’s IC50 against the normal cell lines, WI-38, was very high (55.14 μM) indicating high selectivity degrees of 2.4 and 2.2, respectively. Furthermore, the flow cytometry analysis of A549 treated with T-1-MTA showed significantly increased ratios of early apoptosis (from 0.07% to 21.24%) as well as late apoptosis (from 0.73% to 37.97%). Copyright: © 2023 Eissa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Knowledge Graph

Similar Paper

Anticancer derivative of the natural alkaloid, theobromine, inhibiting EGFR protein: Computer-aided drug discovery approach
PLOS ONE 2023.0
A New Anticancer Semisynthetic Theobromine Derivative Targeting EGFR Protein: CADDD Study
Life 2023.0
New Theobromine Apoptotic Analogue with Anticancer Potential Targeting the EGFR Protein: Computational and In Vitro Studies
ACS Omega 2024.0
Computer-Assisted Drug Discovery of a Novel Theobromine Derivative as an EGFR Protein-Targeted Apoptosis Inducer
Evolutionary Bioinformatics 2023.0
A New Theobromine-Based EGFRWT and EGFRT790M Inhibitor and Apoptosis Inducer: Design, Semi-Synthesis, Docking, DFT, MD Simulations, and In Vitro Studies
Processes 2022.0
A Theobromine Derivative with Anticancer Properties Targeting VEGFR‐2: Semisynthesis, in silico and in vitro Studies
ChemistryOpen 2023.0
Molecular design and synthesis of certain new quinoline derivatives having potential anticancer activity
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2015.0
Design, synthesis, and docking studies of afatinib analogs bearing cinnamamide moiety as potent EGFR inhibitors
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 2016.0
Design, synthesis and assessment of new series of quinazolinone derivatives as EGFR inhibitors along with their cytotoxic evaluation against MCF7 and A549 cancer cell lines
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2021.0
Design, synthesis, anti-tumor activity, and molecular modeling of quinazoline and pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives targeting epidermal growth factor receptor
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2016.0