HDAC-Bax Multiple Ligands Enhance Bax-Dependent Apoptosis in HeLa Cells

J Med Chem. 2020 Oct 22;63(20):12083-12099. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c01454. Epub 2020 Oct 6.

Abstract

Inspired by the synergistic effect of BTSA1 (a Bax activator) and SAHA (a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor) in HeLa cell growth suppression, a series of novel HDAC-Bax multiple ligands were designed rationally. Compound 23, which possesses similar HDAC inhibitory activity relative to SAHA and Bax affinity comparable to BTSA1, exhibits a superior growth suppression against HeLa cells, and its antiproliferative activities are 15-fold and 3-fold higher than BTSA1 and SAHA, respectively. The better antiproliferative activity and lower cytotoxicity of compound 23 indicated that our HDAC-Bax multiple ligand design strategy achieved success. Further studies suggested that compound 23 could enhance Bax-dependent apoptosis by upregulating Bax, followed by inducing the conformational activation of Bax. To our knowledge, we first report HDAC-Bax multiple ligands and demonstrate a new paradigm for the treatment of solid tumors by enhancing Bax-dependent apoptosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetophenones / chemical synthesis
  • Acetophenones / chemistry
  • Acetophenones / pharmacology*
  • Animals
  • Apoptosis / drug effects*
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • HeLa Cells
  • Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors / chemical synthesis
  • Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors / chemistry
  • Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Histone Deacetylases / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Ligands
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Structure
  • Rabbits
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • bcl-2-Associated X Protein / metabolism*

Substances

  • Acetophenones
  • Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors
  • Ligands
  • bcl-2-Associated X Protein
  • Histone Deacetylases