Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of naphthalene imidazo[1,2‐b]pyridazine hybrid derivatives as VEGFR selective inhibitors

Abstract The vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is regarded as an emerging target for abnormal angiogenesis diseases. In this study, novel naphthalene imidazo[1,2‐ b ]pyridazine hybrids as VEGFR selective inhibitors were designed and synthesized using a scaffold hopping strategy based on ponatinib, a multitarget kinase inhibitor. Among the evaluated compounds, derivative 9k (WS‐011) demonstrated the most potent inhibitory potency against VEGFR‐2 (IC 50 = 8.4 nM) and displayed superior VEGFR selectivity over a panel of 70 kinases compared with ponatinib. Furthermore, 9k possessed good cytotoxic effects on various cancer cell lines, especially the colon cancer HT‐29 cells, with an acceptable oral bioavailability. Moreover, 9k significantly inhibited the migration and invasion of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) cells and induced apoptosis through the upregulation of apoptotic proteins in HT‐29 cells. 9k also effectively suppressed the activation of VEGFR‐2 signaling pathways, which in turn inhibited the growth of HT‐29 cells and the tube formation of HUVECs in vitro. All of the findings revealed that 9k could be considered a promising antiangiogenesis lead that merits further investigation.