Continued exploration of 1,2,4-oxadiazole periphery for carbonic anhydrase-targeting primary arene sulfonamides: Discovery of subnanomolar inhibitors of membrane-bound hCA IX isoform that selectively kill cancer cells in hypoxic environment.

An expanded set of diversely substituted 1,2,4-oxadiazole-containing primary aromatic sulfonamides was synthesized and tested for inhibition of human carbonic anhydrase I, II, IX and XII isoforms. The initial biochemical profiling revealed a significantly more potent inhibition of cancer-related, membrane-bound isoform hCA IX (reaching into submicromolar range), on top of potent inhibition of hCA XII that is another cancer target. The observed structure-activity relationships have been rationalized by molecular modeling. Comparative single-concentration profiling of the carbonic anhydrase inhibitors synthesized for antiproliferative effects against normal (ARPE-19) and cancer (PANC-1) cell lines under chemically induced hypoxia conditions revealed several candidate compounds selectively targeting cancer cells. More in-depth characterization of these leads revealed two structurally related compounds that showed promising selective cytotoxicity against pancreatic cancer (PANC-1) and melanoma (SK-MEL-2) cell lines.