| Cancer has emerged as one of the deadliest diseases in the recent past. According to the current statistics, one in every four deaths in the United States is due to cancer. Prevalence of different types of cancers, the very few biochemical differences between cancerous cells and normal cells, the toxicity imparted by the drugs to normal cells and the development of multi-drug resistance by cancerous cells, are some of the challenges in the path of anti-cancer drugs. Thus, there is an urgent need for the development of highly active and well-tolerated anti-cancer drugs. With an aim to identify novel structural classes with promising antiproliferative effects, we discovered substituted 2-methylthio-N-phenylacetamides, their thiophene and triazole derivatives and substituted thiourea, dimethylurea and tetrazole derivatives as unique cytotoxic agents. Our in vitro results and the data from cell cycle analysis indicate that some of the substituted phenylacetamides and thiourea derivatives are highly potent, with a lot of promise to be considered for an in-depth preclinical evaluation. |
