Chalcone/1,3,4-Oxadiazole/Benzimidazole hybrids as novel anti-proliferative agents inducing apoptosis and inhibiting EGFR & BRAFV600E

Introduction One of the most robust global challenges and difficulties in the 21st century is cancer. Treating cancer is a goal which continues to motivate researchers to innovate in design and development of new treatments to help battle the disease. Objectives Our objective was developing new antiapoptotic hybrids based on biologically active heterocyclic motifs "benzimidazole-oxadiazole-chalcone hybrids'' that had shown promising ability to inhibit EGFR and induce apoptosis. We expected these scaffolds to display anticancer activity via inhibition of BRAF, EGFR, and Bcl-2 and induction of apoptosis through activation of caspases. Methods The new hybrids 7a-x were evaluated for their anti-proliferative, EGFR & BRAF(V600E) inhibitory, and apoptosis induction activities were detected. Docking study & dynamic stimulation into EGFR and BRAF(V600E) were studied. Results All hybrids exhibited remarkable cell growth inhibition on the four tested cell lines with IC50 ranging from 0.95 mu M to 12.50 mu M. which was comparable to Doxorubicin. Compounds 7k-m had the most potent EGFR inhibitory activity. While, compounds 7e, 7g, 7k and 7l showed good inhibitory activities against BRAF(V600E). Furthermore, Compounds 7k, 7l, and 7m increased Caspases 3,8 & 9, Cytochrome C and Bax levels and decreased Bcl-2 protein levels. Compounds 7k-m received the best binding scores and showed binding modes that were almost identical to each other and comparable with that of the co-crystalized Erlotinib in EGFR and BRAF active sites. Conclusion Compounds 7k-m could be used as potential apoptotic anti-proliferative agents upon further optimization.