1. Academic Validation
  2. Development of Benzothiazole-grafted Pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as new CDK2 inhibitors and anti-prostate cancer agents

Development of Benzothiazole-grafted Pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as new CDK2 inhibitors and anti-prostate cancer agents

  • Bioorg Chem. 2025 Jul 1:161:108565. doi: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2025.108565.
Mahmoud S Elkotamy 1 Mohamed K Elgohary 2 Arwa Maher 2 Mahmoud Abdelrahman Alkabbani 3 Abdulrahman A Almehizia 4 Ahmed M Naglah 5 Hazem A Ghabbour 6 Wagdy M Eldehna 7 Hatem A Abdel-Aziz 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Egyptian Russian University, Badr City 11829, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: mahmoudelkotami@gmail.com.
  • 2 Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Egyptian Russian University, Badr City 11829, Cairo, Egypt.
  • 3 Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Egyptian Russian University, Badr City, Cairo, 11829, Egypt.
  • 4 Drug Exploration and Development Chair (DEDC), Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
  • 5 Drug Exploration and Development Chair (DEDC), Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: anaglah@ksu.edu.sa.
  • 6 School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne 3083, Australia. Electronic address: hazem.ghabbour@rmit.edu.au.
  • 7 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh P.O. Box 33516, Egypt.
  • 8 Applied Organic Chemistry Department, National Research Center, Dokki 12622, Cairo, Egypt; Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharos University in Alexandria, Canal El Mahmoudia St, Alexandria 21648, Egypt.
Abstract

In the current medical era, CDK2 kinase has emerged as a promising target in the global fight against Cancer. Recent research reported the overexpression of CDK2 in prostate Cancer cells, which highlighted the potential of CDK2 inhibition as a practical therapeutic approach for this disease that stands out as a challenging global health issue. On account of their interesting biological activities, especially anti-cancer properties, the two privileged scaffolds benzothiazole and pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine were utilized in this study to develop three series of 16 novel small molecules (8a-k, 12a-c, and 14a-b) as potential anti-prostate Cancer agents targeting CDK2. The synthesized derivatives were assessed for cytotoxic effects against two prostate Cancer cell lines, DU-145 and PC-3. Compounds 8f, 12c, and 14b exhibited the highest anti-cancer activity. Further investigation showed that these molecules inhibit critical cell cycle regulators by arresting DU-145 cells at the G0/G1 phase. Apoptosis induction was verified using Annexin V-FITC/Propidium iodide (PI) assays, which indicated a noteworthy Apoptosis level in DU-145 cells. The compounds were validated as CDK2 inhibitors via in-vitro assays, with 8f demonstrating the highest potency, exceeding that of the reference drug Roscovitine. Molecular docking studies revealed substantial binding affinities of compounds 8f, 12c, and 14b to the ATP-binding site of CDK2, supported by essential hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. Overall, these study's findings indicate the potential of these benzothiazole-grafted pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as effective therapeutic agents for prostate Cancer.

Keywords

Benzothiazole; CDK2; Molecular modeling; Prostate cancer; Pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine.

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