Benzothiepin-derived molecular scaffolds for estrogen receptor modulators: synthesis and antagonistic effects in breast cancer cells

Abstract

A series of novel benzothiepin-derived compounds are described as potent selective modulators of the human estrogen receptor (SERMs). The objective of the study is to evaluate the antiproliferative effects of the compounds on human MCF-7 breast tumor cells. These heterocyclic compounds contain the traditional triarylethylene arrangement exemplified by tamoxifen, conformationally restrained through the incorporation of the benzothiepin ring system. The compounds demonstrated potency at nanomolar concentrations in antiproliferative assays against an MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line with low cytotoxicity. The compounds exhibited low nanomolar binding affinity for the estrogen receptor (ER) with some specificity for ERβ, and also demonstrate potent antiestrogenic properties in the human uterine Ishikawa cell line. The effect of a number of functional group substitutions on the ER binding properties of the benzothiepin molecular scaffold is explored through a brief computational structure-activity relationship investigation with molecular simulation.

Keywords::

• Benzothiepin
• estrogen receptor antagonists
• antiproliferative activity
• SERMs

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Professor Richard Hochberg at Yale University Medical School, for kindly facilitating the alkaline phosphatase experiments and for the generous gift of the Ishikawa cells. This work was supported through funding from the Trinity College IITAC research initiative (HEA PRTLI), with additional support for computational facilities from the Wellcome Trust.