Abstract

A series of 4-piperidone based curcuminoids were synthesized and anticancer potential of these compounds was evaluated against human myeloid leukemia (KBM5) and colon cancer (HCT116) cell lines. Their anti-inflammatory potential was determined through the down-regulation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-induced nuclear factor (NF)-κB. All compounds, except one, were found to exhibit better cytotoxicity than curcumin at 5 μM. Furthermore, many compounds have shown good potential to inhibit the TNF-α-induced NF-κB activation. Docking study of the compounds with NF-κB revealed that the binding affinity of the compounds ranged from ‒9.0 to ‒6.5 kcal/mol with 0-8 H-bonds. It was also observed that amido-ether based mono-carbonyl compounds bound around the same region of NF-κB where polynucleotides are known to bind to exhibit their activity.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferation, chronic myeloid leukemia, curcumin, colon cancer, cytotoxicity.

Graphical Abstract