Novel [1,2,3]triazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidine derivatives containing hydrazone fragment as potent and selective anticancer agents.

In this paper, based on molecular hybridization, a series of [1,2,3]triazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidine derivatives containing hydrazine was synthesized and their antiproliferative activities against 5 cancer cell lines (MGC-803, PC3, PC9, EC9706 and SMMC-7721) were evaluated. We found that most of them exhibited obvious growth inhibition effects on these tested cancer cells, especially compound 34 on PC3 cells (IC50 = 26.25 ± 0.28 nM). Meanwhile, compound 34 displayed best selectivity on PC3, compared with the other cancer cell lines, as well as excellent selectivity towards normal cell lines (Het-1A, L02 and GES-1). Further investigations demonstrated that 34 could significantly inhibit PC3 cells' colony formation, increase cellular ROS content, suppress EGFR expression and induce apoptosis. Our findings indicate that 34 may serve as a novel lead compound for the discovery of more triazolopyrimidine derivatives with improved anticancer potency and selectivity.