In this work, we mainly focused on discovering compounds with good selectivity for NQO1 over CPR. The NQO1-mediated two-electron reduction of compounds would kill cancer cells selectively, while CPR-mediated one-electron reduction would induce potential hepatotoxicity. Several novel quinone-directed antitumor agents were discovered as specific NQO1 substrates through structure-activity relationship studies. Among them, compound 3,7,8-trimethylnaphtho[1,2-b]furan-4,5-dione (12b) emerged as the most specific substrate of the two-electron oxidoreductase NQO1 and could hardly be reduced by CPR. It afforded the highest selectivity between NQO1/CPR (selectivity ratio = 6.37), much higher than the control β-lapachone (selectivity ratio = 1.36), indicated 12b may possess superior safety profile. The electrochemical studies provided a reasonable explanation to the good selectivity toward NQO1. Molecular docking studies supported that 12b was capable of forming additional C-H … π interactions with Trp105 and Phe178 residues compared to the control β-lap. In addition, compound 12b was shown to kill cancer cells efficiently both in vitro and in vivo model. This work gave us a promising and novel scaffold for further investigation.
Keywords: Cancer cells; NQO1 substrates; Ortho-quinones; ROS; β-Lapachone.
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