Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Quinazolinone Derivatives as Potential Anti‐HCC Agents

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a common malignancy worldwide, has a high mortality rate and limited effective therapeutic options. In this work, a series of quinazolinone compounds (6a-t and 7a-i) were synthesized as potential anti-HCC agents. Among them, compound 7b more potently inhibited HepG2, HUH7 and SK-Hep-1 cells proliferation than classical anti-HCC drug sorafenib, indicating its potential anti-HCC effect. Interestingly, 7b could dose-dependently decrease Cyclin D1 and CDK2 levels, and increase p21 protein expression, thus inducing HepG2 cells cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. In addition, 7b also displayed potent apoptosis-induced effect on HepG2 cells by interfering Bad, Bax, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl proteins expression. Notably, 7b could efficiently block the activity of PI3K pathway by dose-dependently reducing the phosphorylation of PI3K (Y607) and AKT (S473). Moreover, predicted ADME properties indicated that 7b possessed a good pharmacokinetic profile. Collectively, compound 7b might be a promising lead to the development of novel therapeutic agents towards HCC.