Ultrasound-Assisted Synthesis and Biological Profiling of 1,3,5-Triazine Derivatives with Antiproliferative Activity in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

TL;DR

This study develops new 1,3,5-triazine compounds that show antiproliferative activity against triple-negative breast cancer cells.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel ultrasound-assisted synthesis method for 1,3,5-triazine derivatives with potential as TNBC treatments.

Findings

Compounds 9 and 17 showed strong antiproliferative activity against TNBC cell lines with low IC50 values.

The compounds demonstrated acceptable selectivity toward non-cancerous cells.

In vivo toxicity and ADME profiling confirmed their potential as drug candidates.

Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains one of the most aggressive breast cancer subtypes and is associated with limited therapeutic options, underscoring the urgent need for novel treatment strategies. In this study, a library of seventeen 1,3,5-triazine derivatives potentially targeting TNBC was developed using an activity-based approach. Compounds were synthesized via an ultrasound-assisted protocol, providing an efficient and environmentally friendly methodology. The synthesized library was evaluated in vitro against the human TNBC cell lines MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-231, and Hs578T, as well as the non-tumorigenic epithelial cell line MCF10A. Compounds 9 and 17 exhibited the most promising antiproliferative activity against TNBC cell lines (MDA-MB-468: IC50 = 36.62 µM for 9 and 38.29 µM for 17; MDA-MB-231: IC50 = 37.32 µM for 9 and 32.86 µM for 17; Hs578T: IC50 = 57.26 µM for 9 and 34.87 µM for 17), while maintaining acceptable selectivity toward non-cancerous cells. The lead compounds were further assessed in vivo using a Danio rerio model to evaluate general toxicity and cardiotoxicity. In addition, ADME parameters were predicted for all compounds using biomimetic chromatography. Overall, compounds 9 and 17 emerged as promising small-molecule candidates for TNBC treatment, requiring further toxicological evaluation in more human-relevant in vivo models.

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