Synthesis and Antiproliferative Activity of Novel Dehydroabietic Acid-Chalcone Hybrids

Abstract

Dehydroabietic Acid (DHA, 1) derivatives are known for their antiproliferative properties, among others. In the context of this work, DHA was initially modified to two key intermediates bearing a C18 methyl ester, a phenol moiety at C12, and an acetyl or formyl group at C13 position. These derivatives allowed us to synthesize a series of DHA-chalcone hybrids, suitable for structure–activity relationship studies (SARS), following their condensation with a variety of aryl-aldehydes and methyl ketones. The antiproliferative evaluation of the synthesized DHA-chalcone hybrids against three breast cancer cell lines (the estrogen-dependent MCF-7 and the estrogen-independent MDA-MB-231 and Hs578T) showed that eight derivatives (33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44) exhibit low micromolar activity levels (IC50 2.21–11.5 μΜ/MCF-7). For instance, some of them showed better activity compared to the commercial anticancer drug 5-FU against MCF-7 cells (33, 41, 43, 44) and against MDA-MB231 (33 and 41). Hybrid 38 is a promising lead compound for the treatment of MCF-7 breast cancer, exhibiting comparable activity to 5-FU and being 12.9 times less toxic (SI = 22.7). Thus, our findings suggest that DHA-chalcone hybrids are drug candidates worth pursuing for further development in the search for novel breast cancer therapies.