Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel Coumarin-Based Hydroxamate Derivatives as Histone Deacetylase (Hdac) Inhibitors with Antitumor Activities

A series of novel coumarin-based hydroxamate derivatives were designed and synthesized as histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis). Selective compounds showed a potent HDAC inhibition with nM IC50values, with the best compound (10e) being nearly 90 times more active than vorinostat (SAHA) against HDAC1. Compounds10eand11dalso increased the levels of acetylated histone H3 and H4, which is consistent with their strong HDAC inhibition. In addition,10eand11ddisplayed a higher potency toward human A549 and Hela cancer cell lines compared with SAHA. Moreover,10eand11dsignificantly arrested A549 cells at the G2/M phase and enhanced apoptosis. Molecular docking studies revealed the possible mode of interaction of compounds10eand12awith HDAC1. Our findings suggest that these novel coumarin-based HDAC inhibitors provide a promising scaffold for the development of new potential cancer chemotherapies.Keywords:coumarin;hydroxamate;HDAC inhibitors;antitumor growth;structure–activity relationship