L-proline analogues of anthraquinone-2-carboxylic acid: cytotoxic activity in breast cancer MCF-7 cells and inhibitory activity against topoisomerase I and II.

A series of proline analogues of anthraquinone-2-carboxylic acid (1-3) were synthesized and evaluated for cytotoxic activity in the cultured breast cancer MCF-7 cells. The concentrations of 1, 2 and 3 needed to inhibit [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA by 50% (IC50) were found to be 107 +/- 6 microM, 185 +/- 5 microM and 87 +/- 6 microM, respectively. To test whether cytotoxic properties were related to topoisomerase action, the most potent compounds 1 and 3 were evaluated in a cell-free system. Compound 3, which contains a basic substituent at C terminus of the amino acid such as (dimethylamino)propyl inhibited the catalytic activity of both topoisomerases I and II at a concentration of 30 and 60 microM, respectively. However, compound 1 containing an electrostatically neutral moiety, such as methyl ester did not inhibit topoisomerase I or topoisomerase II. In summary, compound 3 is a promising lead compound for a further structural variation in the design of new antitumour drugs.