Nimesulide analogues: From anti-inflammatory to antitumor agents.

Nimesulide is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug possessing analgesic and antipyretic properties. This drug is considered a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor and, more recently, has been associated to antitumor activity. Thus, numerous works have been developed to modify the nimesulide skeleton aiming to develop new and more potent and selective COX-2 inhibitors as well as potential anticancer agents.

Novel 4-acetamide-2-alkylthio-N-acetanilides resembling nimesulide: Synthesis, cell viability evaluation and in silico studies.

Since nimesulide, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, is known to be a selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-2 and shows activity against cancer cells, there has been much interest in developing related molecules with enhanced anticancer properties. Taking in consideration structural features of nimesulide analogues ten new ortho-(akylthio)-N-alkylacetanilides were synthesized and fully characterized. The antiproliferative effect of these acetanilides was evaluated against human breast (MCF-7) and prostate (LNCaP) cancer cell lines as well as normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF).