Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel quinoline-based EGFR/HER-2 dual-target inhibitors as potential anti-tumor agents

Abstract

Dual targeting of EGFR and HER2 is a valid anti-cancer approach for treating solid tumors. We designed and synthesized a new series of EGFR/HER-2 dual-target inhibitors based on quinoline derivatives. The structure of the newly synthesized compounds was verified using ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and elemental analysis. The targeted compounds were tested for antiproliferative efficacy against four cancer cell lines. All the compounds had GI₅₀s ranging from 25 to 82 nM, with breast (MCF-7) and lung (A-549) cancer cell lines being the most sensitive. Compound 5a demonstrated the most significant antiproliferative action. With inhibitory (IC₅₀) values of 71 and 31 nM, respectively, compound 5a proved to be the most effective dual-target inhibitor of EGFR and HER-2, outperforming the reference erlotinib (IC₅₀ = 80 nM) as an EGFR inhibitor but falling short of the clinically used agent lapatinib (IC₅₀ = 26 nM) as a HER2 inhibitor. The apoptotic potential activity of 5a was examined, and the findings demonstrated that 5a promotes apoptosis by activating caspase-3, 8, and Bax while simultaneously reducing the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. The docking studies provided valuable insights into the binding interactions of compounds 3e and 5a with EGFR, effectively rationalizing the observed SAR trends.