Synthesis of bile acid derivatives and in vitro cytotoxic activity with pro-apoptotic process on multiple myeloma (KMS-11), glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), and colonic carcinoma (HCT-116) human cell lines

The novelty of this work derives from the use of nitrogenous heterocycles as building block in the synthesis of conjugate bile acid derivatives. New piperazinyl bile acid derivatives were synthesized and tested in vitro against various human cancer cells (GBM, KMS-11, HCT-116). The best pro-apoptotic activity was obtained with N-[4N-cinnamylpiperazin-1-yl)-3α,7β-dihydroxy-5β-cholan-24-amide (7b) and N-[4N-cinnamyllpiperazin-1-yl)- 3α,7α-dihydroxy-5β-cholan-24-amide (7c) on these human cancer cell lines (IC50: 8.5–31.4 μM). This activity was associated with nuclear and DNA fragmentation, demonstrating that 7b induces cell death by an apoptotic process as 7c. This study shows the possibility of hydrid heterocycle-steroids as new anticancer agents with improved bioactivity and easy to synthesize.

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