Abstract
Cancer cells need to carefully regulate their metabolism to keep them growing and dividing under the influence of different nutrients and oxygen levels. Muscle isoform 2 of pyruvate kinase (PKM2) is a key glycolytic enzyme involved in the generation of ATP and is critical for cancer metabolism. PKM2 is expressed in many human tumors and is regulated by complex mechanisms that promote tumor growth and proliferation. Therefore, it is considered an attractive therapeutic target for modulating tumor metabolism. Various modulators regulate PKM2, shifting it between highly active and less active states. In the presented work, a series of 8-quinolinesulfonamide derivatives of PKM2 modulators were designed using molecular docking and molecular dynamics techniques. New compounds were synthesized using the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction. Compound 9a was identified in in silico studies as a potent modulator of muscle isoform 2 of pyruvate kinase. The results obtained from in vitro experiments confirmed the ability of compound 9a to reduce the intracellular pyruvate level in A549 lung cancer cells with simultaneous impact on cancer cell viability and cell-cycle phase distribution. Moreover, compound 9a exhibited more cytotoxicity on cancer cells than normal cells, pointing to high selectivity in the mode of action. These findings indicate that the introduction of another quinolinyl fragment to the modulator molecule may have a significant impact on pyruvate levels in cancer cells and provides further directions for future research to find novel analogs suitable for clinical applications in cancer treatment.