Design, synthesis and biological evaluations of 2-aminothiazole scaffold containing amino acid moieties as anti-cancer agents.

Due to the emerging mortality rate of colorectal cancer there is a high need for the management and control of this disease. Although several treatment approaches are being developed day by day yet the high incidence rate of colorectal cancer is still not controlled. To ease in the development of treatment therapies for colorectal cancer two derivatives of ethyl 2-aminothiazole 4-carboxylate were designed and synthesized. The compounds Ethyl 2-(2-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2-yl)acetamido)thiazole-4-carboxylate (5a) and ethyl 2-(2-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2-yl)-3-phenylpropanamido)thiazole-4-carboxylate (5b) were characterized and studied for their anti-cancer activities. The in silico molecular modeling studies were performed against the target protein beta-catenin which is an important player in the progression of colorectal cancer. The in silico ADMET studies were performed to assess the basic physicochemical properties of these compounds. The in vitro antiproliferative assay and the enzyme inhibitory assay was performed to validate the role of these compounds in the colorectal cancer. The preliminary cytotoxic assay and the MTT assay of the compounds 5a and 5b against the colorectal cancer cell line HCT 116 showed 60% inhibition of cell proliferation with IC50 of 0.72μM and 1.55μM, respectively. The standard methotrexate showed IC50 of 0.7μM showing potent inhibitory action of these compounds. The in vitro validation of the anti-cancer effect of both compounds revealed significant inhibition of beta-catenin concentration at higher doses as compared to control. Both the in vitro and in vivo assays of compounds showed effective anti-cancer activities and depicts the future potential of these compounds in colorectal cancer.