Synthesis and biological evaluation of combretastatin-amidobenzothiazole conjugates as potential anticancer agents.

A series of combretastatin-amidobenzothiazole conjugates have been synthesized and evaluated for their anticancer activity. All these compounds exhibited significant anticancer activity and the most potent compound (11a) showed GI(50) values ranging 0.019-11 μM. Biological studies such as cell cycle distribution, effect on tubulin polymerization and effect on ERK signalling pathway have been examined in MCF-7 cell line. FACS analysis revealed that these compounds induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase. Compound 11a showed significant effect on tubulin polymerization and affected the ERK signalling pathway that result in the decreased levels of ERK1/2, p-ERK and c-Jun proteins. Docking experiments have shown that the active molecules interact and bind well in the ATP binding pocket of ERK protein.