Synthesis and antineoplastic activity of ethylene glycol phenyl aminoethyl ether derivatives as FOXM1 inhibitors

FOXM1 signalling pathways are highly expressed in multiple human cancers. Based on the crystal structure of the FOXM1 DNA binding domain, our preliminary research found ethylene glycol (4-benzyloxyphenyl) cyclopentylaminoethyl ether XST20, which could inhibit ovarian cancer cell proliferation and showed a medium affinity for the truncated protein FOXM1. This study intended to develop a FOXM1 inhibitor with stronger affinity and higher efficiency to be utilized as a molecular tool and drug candidate. We evaluated the optimization direction through molecular docking and systematically modified the structure of XST20. A novel class of ethylene glycol phenyl aminoethyl ether derivatives were synthesized, their anticancer activity and mechanism were evaluated, and the structure-activity relationship was summarized. Compound S2 showed a stronger affinity for FOXM1 and improved its activity with a broad-spectrum anticancer effect. S2 displayed selective antiproliferative activity against cancer cells with high expression levels of FOXM1 proteins. S2 should be a good chemobiological tool and a potential leading compound for future studies of anticancer drugs targeting FOXM1.