Synthesis and anticancer activity of novel hydrazone linkage-based aryl sulfonate derivatives as apoptosis inducers

In the present study, the various 28 hybrid molecules containing hydrazone and sulfonate moieties were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, H-1-NMR, C-13-NMR spectroscopy and LC-MS spectrometry, besides elemental analysis. The compounds were evaluated for their antiproliferative effects against six cancer cell lines, namely A549 (non-small cell lung cancer), MCF-7 (breast cancer), HT-29 (colorectal adenocarcinoma cancer), PC-3 (androgen-independent prostate adenocarcinoma), Hep3B (hepatocellular carcinoma cancer), and HeLa (epitheloid cervix carcinoma cancer). Among all the target compounds, compounds 4g and 4h exhibited more promising effects on MCF-7 cell lines (IC50 = 17.8 mu M and 21.2 mu M, respectively) with high selectivity. Further mechanistic studies proposed that compounds 4g and 4h induced apoptosis is mediated through the intrinsic apoptotic pathway with changes in mitochondrial membrane potential by finally activating caspase-9 and caspase-3. The results have been encouraging enough to merit further investigation.