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Novel Quinazoline-Based Compounds Impair Prostate Tumorigenesis by Targeting Tumor Vascularity

¹ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky College of Medicine; ² Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky; and ³ Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Requests for reprints: Natasha Kyprianou, Combs Cancer Research Building, Room 306, University of Kentucky Medical Center, 800 Rose Street, Lexington, KY 40536. Phone: 859-323-9812; Fax: 859-323-1944; E-mail: nkypr2{at}uky.edu.

Previous evidence showed the ability of the quinazoline-based ₁-adrenoreceptor antagonist doxazosin to suppress prostate tumor growth via apoptosis. In this study, we carried out structural optimization of the chemical nucleus of doxazosin and a subsequent structure-function analysis toward the development of a novel class of apoptosis-inducing and angiogenesis-targeting agents. Our lead compound, DZ-50, was effective at reducing endothelial cell viability via a nonapoptotic mechanism. Treatment with DZ-50 effectively prevented in vitro tube formation and in vivo chorioallantoic membrane vessel development. Confocal microscopy revealed a significantly reduced ability of tumor cells to attach to extracellular matrix and migrate through endothelial cells in the presence of DZ-50. In vivo tumorigenicty studies using two androgen-independent human prostate cancer xenografts, PC-3 and DU-145, showed that DZ-50 treatment leads to significant suppression of tumorigenic growth. Exposure to the drug at the time of tumor cell inoculation led to prevention of prostate cancer initiation. Furthermore, DZ-50 resulted in a reduced formation of prostate-tumor derived metastatic lesions to the lungs in an in vivo spontaneous metastasis assay. Thus, our drug discovery approach led to the development of a class of lead (quinazoline-based) compounds with higher potency than doxazosin in suppressing prostate growth by targeting tissue vascularity. This new class of quinazoline-based compounds provides considerable promise as antitumor drugs for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. [Cancer Res 2007;67(23):11344–52]