Influence of chlorine or fluorine substitution on the estrogenic properties of 1-alkyl-2,3,5-tris(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-pyrroles

J Med Chem. 2012 Nov 26;55(22):9607-18. doi: 10.1021/jm300860j. Epub 2012 Oct 17.

Abstract

In continuation of our previous work, several 1-alkyl-2,3,5-tris(4-hydroxyphenyl)aryl-1H-pyrroles with chlorine or fluorine substituents in the aryl residues were synthesized and tested for estrogen receptor (ER) binding at isolated ERα/ERβ receptors (HAP assay) and in transactivation assays using ERα-positive MCF-7/2a as well as U2-OS/ERα and U2-OS/ERβ cells. In the competition experiment at ERα the compounds displayed very high relative binding affinities of up to 37% (determined for 8m) but with restricted subtype selectivity (e.g., ERα/ERβ (8m) = 9). The highest estrogenic potency in ERα-positive MCF-7/2a cells was determined for 2,3,5-tris(2-fluoro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propyl-1H-pyrrole 8m (EC(50) = 23 nM), while in U2-OS/ERα cells 2-(2-fluoro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-3,5-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propyl-1H-pyrrole 8b (EC(50) = 0.12 nM) was the most potent agonist, only 30-fold less active than estradiol (E2, EC(50) = 0.004 nM). In U2-OS/ERβ cells for all pyrroles no transactivation could be observed, which indicates that they are selective ERα agonists in cellular systems.

MeSH terms

  • Blotting, Western
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects*
  • Chlorine / chemistry*
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha / agonists*
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha / metabolism
  • Estrogen Receptor beta / agonists*
  • Estrogen Receptor beta / metabolism
  • Female
  • Fluorine / chemistry*
  • Humans
  • Luciferases / metabolism
  • Models, Molecular
  • Osteosarcoma / drug therapy
  • Osteosarcoma / metabolism
  • Phenols / chemistry
  • Phenols / pharmacology*
  • Protein Binding
  • Pyrroles / chemistry
  • Pyrroles / pharmacology*
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

  • 2,3,5-tris(2-fluoro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propyl-1H-pyrrole
  • 2-(2-fluoro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-3,5-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propyl-1H-pyrrole
  • ESR1 protein, human
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha
  • Estrogen Receptor beta
  • Phenols
  • Pyrroles
  • Fluorine
  • Chlorine
  • Luciferases