Design, synthesis and evaluation of novel 2-thiophen-5-yl-3H-quinazolin-4-one analogues as inhibitors of transcription factors NF-kappaB and AP-1 mediated transcriptional activation: Their possible utilization as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents.

In an attempt to discover novel inhibitors of NF-kappaB and AP-1 mediated transcriptional activation utilizing the concept of chemical lead based medicinal chemistry and bioisosterism a series of 2-(2,3-disubstituted-thiophen-5-yl)-3H-quinazolin-4-one analogs was designed. A facile and simple route for the synthesis of the designed molecules was developed. Synthesized molecules were evaluated for their activity as inhibitors towards NF-kappaB and AP-1 mediated transcriptional activation in a cell line report-based assay. This series provides us with a substantial number of compounds inhibiting the activity of NF-kappaB and/or AP-1 mediated transcriptional activation. These compounds also exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity in in vivo models of inflammation and cancer. The 4-pyridyl group is found to be the most important pharmacophore on the third position of thiophene ring for inhibiting NF-kappaB and AP-1 mediated transcriptional activation. The relationships between the activities shown by these compounds in the in vivo and in vitro models have been established by using FVB transgenic mice model. These results suggest the suitability of the designed molecular framework as a potential scaffold for the design of molecules with inhibitory activity towards NF-kappaB and AP-1 mediated transcriptional activation, which may also exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity. This series of molecules warrants further study to explore their potential as therapies for use in chronic inflammatory conditions and cancer. Development of the synthetic protocol for the synthesis of this series of molecules, biological activities and a structure-activity relationship (SAR) have been discussed herein.