1. Academic Validation
  2. Discovery of 1,2,3-triazole derivatives of phenanthroindolizidine to reverse temozolomide resistance in glioblastoma

Discovery of 1,2,3-triazole derivatives of phenanthroindolizidine to reverse temozolomide resistance in glioblastoma

  • Bioorg Chem. 2025 Aug:163:108752. doi: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2025.108752.
Zifan Feng 1 Jialing Deng 1 Mi Li 1 Shanshan Zhu 1 Jingwen Chang 1 Tao Xu 1 Chenyu Dang 1 Zhipeng Wang 1 Hongliang Wang 2 Ming Ji 3 Ru-Bing Wang 4 Shi-Shan Yu 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China.
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China; University-Town Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401331, China.
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China. Electronic address: jiming@imm.ac.cn.
  • 4 State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China. Electronic address: wangrubing@imm.ac.cn.
  • 5 State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China. Electronic address: yushishan@imm.ac.cn.
Abstract

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain tumor with extremely limited clinical treatment options. Highly efficacious and tolerable agents for the treatment of GBM are urgently needed. Herein, twenty-seven novel phenanthroindolizidine compounds were designed and synthesized using a "three birds, one stone" strategy, structurally featuring various novel 1,2,3-triazole moieties at the 3-position of phenanthroindolizidine. They were evaluated for antiproliferative activities in both standard and temozolomide (TMZ)-resistant GBM cell lines, and their structure-activity relationships (SAR) were determined. Among these, compound 10c2 exhibited high antiproliferative activity in both normal and TMZ-resistant GBM cell lines with decreased gastrointestinal cytotoxicity in vitro. Furthermore, 10c2 showed improved inhibition of cell migration and invasion, and induced cell Apoptosis in TMZ-resistant GBM cells. Mechanically, 10c2 could downregulate the expression of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) to impair the TMZ resistance by inhibiting the Hedgehog pathway. In the xenograft model, 10c2 exhibited a substantial inhibitory effect on GBM tumor growth and benefits for the combination therapy of TMZ without showing obvious toxicity. 10c2 also demonstrated significant potential for absorption and the blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration following oral administration. Overall, these findings indicated that 10c2 might be a promising compound for the treatment of GBM, showing the potential to overcome resistance to TMZ.

Keywords

Antitumor; GBM; Phenanthroindolizidine; TMZ-resistance; Triazole.

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