Design and synthesis of new RAF kinase-inhibiting antiproliferative quinoline derivatives. Part 2: Diarylurea derivatives.

This article describes the design, synthesis, and biological screening of a new series of diarylurea derivatives possessing quinoline nucleus. Nine target compounds were selected by the National Cancer Institute (NCI, Bethesda, Maryland, USA) for in vitro antiproliferative screening against a panel of 58 cancer cell lines of nine cancer types. Following one-dose initial screening, compounds 1d-g and 2b were selected for 5-dose screening in order to calculate their IC and total growth inhibition (TGI) values against the cell lines. Compounds 1e and 1g were the most promising analogues. Both compounds showed strong potency and broad-spectrum antiproliferative activity against the different tested cancer types. Their IC and TGI values were less than those of the reference drug, sorafenib, against most of the tested cell lines of the nine different cancer types. Furthermore, the most potent compounds 1d-g were tested against C-RAF kinase as a potential molecular target of this series of compounds. All of them showed high potency, and the most potent derivative was compound 1e (IC = 0.10 μM). It was further tested against a panel of another twelve kinases, and it showed selectivity against C-RAF kinase. This could be, at least in part, the possible mechanism of antiproliferative action of this series of compounds at molecular level. The binding modes of compounds 1e and 1g were studied by docking studies, which highlighted the importance of the urea linker compared with the amide linker.