Development, synthesis and biological investigation of a novel class of potent PC-PLC inhibitors.

Phospholipases are enzymes that are involved in the hydrolysis of acyl and phosphate esters of phospholipids, generating secondary messengers that have implications in various cellular processes including proliferation, differentiation and motility. As such inhibitors of phospholipases have been widely studied for their use as anti-cancer therapeutics. Phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C (PC-PLC) is implicated in the progression of a number of cancer cell lines including aggressing triple-negative breast cancers.

Discovery of novel phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C drug-like inhibitors as potential anticancer agents.

Phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C (PC-PLC) is a promising target for new anticancer treatment. Herein, we report our work in the discovery of novel drug-like PC-PLC inhibitors. Virtual screening led to the identification of promising hits from four different structural series that contain the molecular scaffold of benzenesulphonamides (10), pyrido[3,4-b]indoles (22), morpholinobenzoic acid (84) and benzamidobenzoic acid (80).