Design, synthesis, biological evaluation, and docking studies of novel (imidazol-5-yl)pyrimidine-based derivatives as dual BRAFV600E/p38α inhibitors

The synergistic effect of dual inhibition of serine/threonine protein kinases that are involved in the same signalling pathway of the diseases can exert superior biological benefits for treatment of these diseases. In the present work, a new series of (imidazol-5-yl)pyrimidine was designed and synthesized as dual inhibitors of BRAF(V600E) and p38 alpha kinases which are considered as key regulators in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway. The target compounds were evaluated for dual kinase inhibitory activity. The tested compounds exhibited nanomolar scale IC50 values against BRAF(V600E) and low to sub-micromolar IC50 range against p38 alpha. Compound 20h was identified as the most potent dual BRAF(V600E)/p38 alpha inhibitor with IC50 values of 2.49 and 85 nM, respectively. Further deep investigation revealed that compound 20h possesses inhibitory activity of TNF-alpha production in lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages with IC50 value of 96.3 nM. Additionally, the target compounds efficiently frustrated the proliferation of LOX-IMVI melanoma cell line. Compound 20h showed a satisfactory antiproliferative activity with IC50 value of 13 mu M, while, compound 18f exhibited the highest cytotoxicity potency with IC50 value of 0.9 mu M. Compound 18f is 11.11-fold more selective toward LOX-IMVI melanoma cells than IOSE-80PC normal cells. The newly reported compounds represent therapeutically promising candidates for further development of BRAF(V600E)/p38 alpha inhibitors in an attempt to overcome the acquired resistance of BRAF mutant melanoma. (c) 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The newly synthesized (imidazol-5-yl)pyrimidine compounds exhibited dual inhibitory activity against BRAF(V600E) and p38 alpha kinases, as well as antiproliferative and TNF-alpha inhibitory activities. Compound 20h showed the highest inhibitory activity among the tested compounds.